Assassin of the North
by mOsbricka
Summary: She had been destined to be an assassin from her birth, the runes on her back spoke of it, but she was captured. Years later her broken self is rescued from the mines by two nobles to have her fight in the arena. Will she be strong enough to defeat her opponents and return to her homeland? Or will she fall like many others...
1. Into The Mines

**Most of the characters belong to Rick Riordan.**

 **The map I used for this is a modified European map.**

Annabeth's eyes slowly opened, the world going from blurry to focused. Her head throbbed immensely, like if someone was hitting it with a hammer. She tried to move her arms but to her surprise she couldn't, they were fastened to two poles, about 3 yards away from each other. The ropes held her up but also made sure she couldn't move her arms.

Suddenly all the memories came crashing in on her, she had been captured! Horrors of what might happen to her made her squirm in her bonds, trying to pull free. She felt the ropes digging into her wrists and felt a warm stream running down her forearm.

"Well well well! You must be important if the King himself orders you to be kept alive," a man said from behind her. She tried to turn her head but from her position it was impossible to see him fully. She did however see his smirk as he said, "for as long as possible. And his majesty didn't really specialise what we weren't allowed to do!" His smirk grew as she stared in horror. Annabeth tried to wriggle away from him, but couldn't not with her arms stretched out.

She instead attacked him verbally, screaming for help. This seemed to amuse him further, until she started calling him names. That was when his eyes darkened, "I am _not_ stupid! I'm _not_ a barbarian!" his face was flushed and he pulled something from his belt. A long coiled whip. Annabeth stared in horror as he warmed up his arm. Five other guards stood around them, making sure she couldn't escape. She tried to remember what her mentor had told her, but failed. She was too panicked to do anything.

The whip lashed across her back, the impact jerking her body forward. The searing pain came after a few moments and Annabeth had to fight the tears back. She had not let out a sound and the guards obviously didn't take that as good. Another lash and her back exploded in pain, it felt like if someone held a hot iron against her. The tears started flowing, running down her face steady streams. Another lash, finally she screamed as the pain was too much. Another lash- she screamed, scraping up her wrists as she fought the ropes.

Annabeth felt her world grow darker and the pain feeling distant. She didn't even notice when they untied her wrists and placed her on her stomach. She was abruptly thrown into a world of pain again when they threw a bucket of water in her face. Her head jerked up and she tried to get up- her back burned so much she couldn't even use her arms. The guards walked towards her, and held her down. She couldn't see what they were doing but she guessed it wasn't going to be fun for her. The guard who whipped her's voice was heard from behind, "Boys, rip up the shirt please, I cannot access her back otherwise"

Annabeth's heart skipped a beat, was he going to do what she thought? She felt something cold, a knife- cutting through the thin fabric of her already ripped shirt. She felt their eyes on her bare back, probably eying the wounds she had there from the whip.

"Those are some strange tattoos you've got there sweetheart," the guard said. Annabeth remembered them, unlike in the south, where magic had been gone for over a hundred years, many people in the north still possessed the powers. The tattoos served as marks for whoever could utilize the arts- people who were born with them were natural magic users. The tattoos, runes as they were called in the north, was a secret language only accessible to the people who had been taken in as apprentices of magicians. It was handed down through the trade, from master to apprentice. The runes were often colourful and could cover almost any part of a person's body. The shape of the runes and the way they coiled around someone spoke of the way that the host could use magic.

When a runed child was born in the North it was immediately given to the the sorcerer's guild so that they could read the symbols and give the child a proper education in the arts of magic. The parents had no choice in giving up their child, as a people who didn't know how to control their power was extremely dangerous. This was one of the many reasons why people of the six kingdoms believed that the North was full of barbarians, people willingly giving away their children? Uncivilised. One of the other reasons why the North seemed uncivilised was that it didn't have a king, people lived in villages that governed themselves, the North was also extremely isolated from the rest of the world, the only part of it that had any contact with the kingdoms was called the Outposts. The ruler of the Outposts called himself king of the North but he didn't have any power or access to it. The villages in the region had come together and had people posted around the borders, killing anyone who tried to gain access. The people of the North had no common language but spoke variations of three different, all easy to understand for each other but not for people who spoke the common tongue.

The six kingdoms consisted of the kingdoms of Ogygia, Hades, Celestia, Olympia, Elysium and Atlantis. Before they had been separate they had all been been provinces in the great empire of Othrys. The Othryan people were masters of witchcraft and magic, the dark arts. They had built a great empire in a decade that managed to stand for a century- when the provinces all gathered up and toppled the black throne. They left the once great empire in ruins and retreated to their own lands. All that was left was said to be smoking piles of ash.

The first kingdom, Ogygia, was a series of islands led by their royal family, the current king was called Atlas and his daughter was the crown princess, called Calypso. It's capital was called York. Atlas had many children, and even more women, and even though he had many bastards he stood his ground and invited many of them to his court.

Ogygia was the most isolated of the kingdoms, since it was an island nation. That didn't stop it from getting invaded by the rising kingdom of Atlantis. The people of Ogygia had managed to surround the Atlantic army in one part of the land. Later when they made peace that part fell in the hands of Atlantis who set of a great harbour for trading. The main exports were coal and fish, but they also traded with oil, a resource that the noble families had started using as fuel.

The second kingdom was Hades. Hades was a balanced country, were the king didn't have much power. The people voted for many things that the king had to enforce- this didn't seem to bother the royal family. Their king was called Hades, his parents must have been _very_ imaginative. _'Hey let's name our kid after our country so that when he'll become king it will seem as if he renamed the country after himself!'_ Hades and his wife Maria had led their country into a golden age, making it the second, if not the richest kingdom. Their main exports were wheat, fruits, wine and gold. The royal family consisted of Hades, his wife Persephone and his two legitimised bastards, prince Nico and crown princess Bianca. Hades didn't have any children with Persephone and had to legitimise his children, though their relationship with the queen was said to be a bit tense. They had also been in a war with the Atlantic people, a war they almost lost, the Atlantic army had gotten far into the nation when they negotiated peace. The capital of Hades was called Alicante.

The third kingdom was called Celestia, it was the kingdom that was closest to Othrys. Almost a third of it was surrounded by the old Othryan border. The king of Celestia, Charles Dare, resided in the capital, Berlin. He ruled with an iron fist and was the richest monarch. His subjects all paid high taxes to him and many of them were forced to work in his mines. The main export of Celestia were various metals, ranging from gold, to iron to the most valuable metal bronze. Bronze was an alloy, made from tin and copper and almost every kingdom could create their own, but the Celestian blacksmiths forged the metals with a special casting method that made it more durable, lighter and easier to keep sharp if forged to a sword.

The fourth kingdom was Olympia. The capital was called olympus and was ruled by the self-proclaimed king Zeus. His wife was called Beryl, with her he had two children- princess Thalia, the oldest and crown prince Jason. The reason that Thalia wasn't the crown princess was that Olympa, like many of the kingdoms, was male dominant. The Olympian army was the strongest and most well-trained. The Olympian people liked their king, many thought he acted a bit childish sometimes, throwing fits as he thought people conspired against him. King Zeus hand many children with other women. Olympia's biggests exports were fruit and wine.

Zeus had for many years been in arguments with the kings of Atlantis and Hades. He was certain one of them would overthrow him, especially the Atlantic king. The reason may have been well-supported as Atlantis had been in a state of constant conquest, creating ports and colonies almost everywhere. The only thing they seemed to be missing was a piece of land that didn't have any connection to the sea.

The fifth kingdom was Elysium. The capital of Elysium was the city of Rome. Elysium was the beach resort of the world. People, often the richest, went to relax at their estates on the beaches or to gamble at the casinos- the biggest of which was the Lotus Casino. The rulers were King Tristan and Queen Aphrodite. Together they had one child although Aphrodite probably had many secret lovers, and maybe children. Their child was crown princess Piper. Elysium imported more wares than it exported, its only economical gain being tourism. It imported all luxury wares like wine, gold and gems for its visitors to look at.

The sixth kingdom was probably the richest, it was the kingdom of Atlantis. The ruling family was the Jacksons. They were the only royals who had a common-name, it also fit them the most as they were the ones who identified themselves the most with their people. King Poseidon often talked with his subjects, helping sailors and many times joining their trade missions to other kingdoms. His wife, Queen Sally was a calm and loving woman, she was from a simple merchant's family and had worked her way up to a position where the king had noticed, and fallen in love with her. Their children were called Perseus and Andromeda. Perseus was the oldest one of them, making him crown prince. He was just like his father, simple, he wasn't like many of the other spoiled brats that lived at the courts of the different families. He was currently living as an honoured guest at the court of King Zeus, in Olympia.

Atlantis was the richest kingdom because it controlled all the sea, all trade across the sea was Atlantic. It was also the only country with access to salt which raised the price they could charge for the important ware. The exports of Atlantis were, amongst others, pearls, dyes, fish, salt, copper and gold. The Atlantic colonies around the continent were home to the biggest harbours and were where most transactions occurred. Atlantis had been waging war against many of the kingdoms, often quickly negotiating a peace were they gained some land which they settled, creating another trading station that grew rich.

South of the kingdoms was the continent called the South, many explorers had tried to explore and few had returned, it might have been because it was like the north, the people who lived there didn't want anything to do with the schemes of the kingdoms. Although few had come back there was still trade going between the continents, mostly by the Atlantians.

To the North, beyond Celestia was the place they called the Outposts. It was a barren landscape and the people there spoke a language similar to the Northern ones but that still was understandable for the common tongue speakers. Zeus had proclaimed himself king of the Outposts, and of the North, but in reality he had no power there.

Many people believed that the climate and terrain in the North matched that of the Outposts.

"What do they mean?" The guard's voice threw Annabeth back into reality.

"It doesn't matter," she said quietly.

"Doesn't matter? They look magic to me, do you know magic is forbidden? The kings all agreed on that." Annabeth knew this, many years ago all the kings had come together and the discussion led to magic being banned in all its forms. It also led to the kings accepting the common language and outlawing all religions other than the Olympian. The Olympic pantheon had already been accepted by most people, the gods were said to have existed for centuries already and many of the kings and noblemen were named after them. Hades, Poseidon, Zeus were all named after the most powerful gods. No one knew if the decision had been made in an attempt to dehumanise the Northerners or if it had been to secure their thrones, but one thing was sure, every time someone had tried to attack the North, they had all died.

"Maybe she was sent here for using magic," one of the guards suggested. He sounded disgusted. Like if magic was a crime! Annabeth felt like punching him for thinking that but her back was in too much pain and she was held down. She decided to not answer, if the guards didn't know why she was there or who she was it was good, it was bad enough that king Zeus sentenced her here to die, she didn't need the to know why she was sent here.

"If she is a witch I do _not_ want to touch her" one guards said, "Maybe we should give her such a warm welcome here as we had hoped to" he said it with a grin. Somewhere behind her one of the guards moved something, it sounded like a bucket being lifted. Then she felt something pressing into her wounds, and her world exploded in pain, somehow it felt worse than the whip itself. Her world was on fire and she screamed until she had no breath left. The guards just held her down and laughed.

She lost track of time, how long had she been laying there? She hadn't even noticed the guards carrying her to a different building. She stared outside, careful not to move her neck and noticed that it was morning, when she first got there it had been noon. She had laid there for an entire night!

Annabeth tried to get up but her arms wouldn't support her weight so she just laid still. Silently sobbing. No one seemed to have noticed her so Annabeth was surprised when she felt someone touch her. The touch was gentle and when she turned her head she saw that it was an old woman who studied her with pity in her eyes. She said something in the common tongue that Annabeth was too dazed to hear, then she started dabbing Annabeth's back with a wet cloth. Annabeth felt the pain return and then it be relieved as the woman kept on cleaning the wounds. Annabeth whispered a thank you to her and the woman just stared sadly.

"Save your strength," she said "You're going to need it!"

Then she walked off, leaving Annabeth on the ground.

* * *

 _One year later_

Annabeth was too weak to fight off the guards as they grabbed her, she had been in the mines for an entire day and could barely stand up. She tried to kick them but they just shrugged it off. They dragged her with them- her feet scraping against the ground, into the main complex of the camp. They pulled her through the big double doors and into the main hall. She was surprised when she saw a group of people there. There were at least seven of them and by the tense movements of six of them she guessed that they were guarding the seventh.

"Ah, That took you long enough Chiron" A man said, he was the one who was guarded by the others. "Although you could have taken some more time to clean her up, she stinks!" he said. Annabeth stared at him, this was clearly a royal. No one else would even be allowed in here, and if they were they would have more to complain about than the smell. The man stared at her, "Well, is she going to bow to her superior?" It was more of a demand than a question. The guards who held her up pushed her down face first into the floor. She had just enough time to catch herself with her arms. The guards didn't seem to be happy with this though so they kicked her in the back sending a flash of pain from a year's worth of whipping up her spine. She collapsed forward, onto her face and stomach.

The boy walked up to her, studying her. After a long time he gestured for the guards to leave.

"I didn't expect her to look like this Perseus," he said to someone behind her. A second voice answered from behind, "No, I am shocked to see that the most feared assassin in the world is no older than my dear sister." The man, Perseus, walked into her field of vision.

He had jet black hair that was short-cropped. He was tall and muscular, he looked like he was fast- but even the slightest pound more muscle would make him slower. She guessed he was from Atlantis, with his sea-green eyes and black hair that framed a face worthy of a god. He was undeniably handsome and he walked like he knew it, almost swaggering.

"Stand up," he ordered and she did just that, her muscles screaming in protest. They both eyes her once again, and she didn't like the way that their looked at her. She felt their eyes on her hips, face and looking at her chest. She crossed her arms over her chest to cover herself, the torn shirt she wore wasn't doing a good job of that. She saw a tinge of disappointment flash over the face of the first one. He was pale, with sand-blonde hair and blue eyes. His skin wasn't tanned as Perseus' was but more white. He looked more lean than Perseus did, also way faster. She guessed she wouldn't outrun him anytime soon.

"I imagined her more-" he seemed to be stuck on a word, "…less thin." he settled, it almost sounded as if he was a bit disappointed.

"Come on Luke, not everyone can look like Thalia." Percy said. Luke huffed slightly. "Oh, excuse me," Perseus said, "We haven't even told you who we are or why we are here. Terribly sorry for that." She just stared at him, did he really expect her to forgive him that easily? He had just stared at her breasts as if he had never seen a woman before and he expected her to forgive that so easily, dream on.

"I am crown prince Perseus of Atlantis. Son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson, king and queen of Atlantis," he grinned at her. It was a bit lopsided and it made her want to smile back. "This here is count Lukas Castellan, son of the late Hermes and May Castellan." Annabeth had guessed that they were royal and she had been half correct. She wasn't surprised. Almost everyone could hear it in their accent and see it in the way they looked at the world. The Castellan looked alot like his father, whom she had assassinated. She prayed to the Hidden that he didn't know that.

"We are here," Castellan picked up, "Too bring you out of this place to serve us. You will be our champion." She flinched, what did he say? She really must have been whipped too much, she was going insane. He must have seen the distrust on her face because he was quick to say, "There is going to be a championship in Elysium in a few months, many of the other noble children have already decided on their champions and we would ask you, but seeing from the state of this place i guess that you would do it to get out of here. Do you accept?"

Annabeth thought for half a second, twirling her dirty her around her finger, it had once been princess blonde and now it looked like it was made of mud and twigs. She looked at her nails- scraped up, with dirt all over them. The only thing she liked about the filth was that it covered her runes, so that no one would see them. She was sure that if Lukas or Perseus knew that she was runed she would be executed or sent back to the mines immediately.

"I accept" she said with a hushed voice. Both men seemed surprised that she talked. She hoped that they wouldn't hear that her accent wasn't like that of any of the kingdoms. Since she was a Northerner she had to many languages and her common tongue still had an accent. Although with a teacher as hers she wasn't surprised she spoke ten languages fluently.

"Very well. Guards!" he shouted and the guards entered again. "Prepare our horses and make sure we can leave whenever she is ready." He paused for a moment. "Captain," Lukas commanded. The man that he had previously called Chiron walked forward. "Show her to the showers and give her some clothes to ride in, those filthy rags are being disposed as well." The captain nodded and held his arm out to guide her.

* * *

She exited the showers, feeling clean for the first time in a year. Everything seemed nicer, and she could finally smell something other than sweat and dirt. She had noticed that she was awfully skinny, she looked like a skeleton compared to her otherwise curvy form. She took an extremely long shower, feeling like the crown prince and the count could wait a bit longer then she heard a huff coming from her guard, Chiron. She hadn't even noticed he was in the shower room. She met his eyes in the mirror and the old man stared back. Then she remembered; her runes!- if he saw them he would most likely report them to the lords and she would be executed, or worse, but he just looked back at her with calm. She didn't even bother to hide her body as he didn't seem like he was that sort of a man. He just calmly stared at her with his brown eyes,

"You must get dressed milady," he said. "You needn't keep the lords waiting. They have don't have much patience for these sort of things." Annabeth was surprised. _Why had he called her a lady?_ Then it hit her, some people of the north regarded runed people very highly. He must be one of them.

"Where are you from, Chiron?" she asked, a little suspicion in her voice.

"The south-peak," he said. She had been correct. He was from the area that regarded runed people the highest, the place in the North with the least amount of magic. Coincidentally the place in the North the closest to the kingdoms. Not many Northerners thought that this was a coincidence.

She eyed him as she dressed, he was tall- like most people from the North, she guessed he towered over most men, he had brown hair and brown eyes, his face was rough- like that of a person who had endeared many hard winters and much wind, his chest was broad and his arms looked strong. She decided not to ask any more and let him lead her to the horses.


	2. North

**Most of the characters belong to Rick Riordan.**

 **The map I used for this is a modified European map.**

 **Link in the summary.**

Chiron was from the North! Annabeth couldn't believe it. Not many northerners wanted anything to do with the kingdoms, they were to chaotic and warred to much between each other. The North had no perfect system but they all felt a unity and all defended each other when need arose. All villages knew that the kingdoms would only mean harm if they invaded and thus everyone was prepared to fight them off. The latest king who tried to invade was Zeus. It was during the biggest period of wealth for Olympia that he decided it was a good idea to proclaim himself king of the Outposts, the absolute split between the two continents. He called himself king of a land that didn't share any borders with his kingdom. Because his army was large and powerful the king Dare let his troops move through his kingdom and into the new territory. The people of the Outposts did not like this though and many fled to the North for protection, especially the leaders and runed ones. Invading kings were usually not nice to the leaders of the defeated people, especially if they had put up a fight.

So many fled to the North and Zeus took this as a reason to invade, if they were willing to host his enemies they must be against him. He used the reason that the Northerners didn't follow his gods and that they used magic, which was seen as heresy in the kingdoms. But here he met a stop. The initial attack surged deep into the southern parts of the North. Zeus' army marched deeper and deeper until they were about a third of the way to no-man's land., where the cold was too much for anyone from the kingdoms. Then hell broke loose. The northerners had stayed silent, waiting for the Olympian army to advance and now they were completely surrounded.

The attacks had started the minute the trap closed, northerners stealing away resources, making hit-and-runs to specific parts of the army. One day the king woke up and found that all of his archers had gotten their throats slit during the night. When the Olympians finally realised what was happening it was too late, there was no more ransoms or medicine. All their supplies were gone. Still Zeus commanded them forward, but their movement was too slow to make an impact on the now gathered northerners. Then the winter came, a winter harsher than had ever been seen in the kingdoms, still it was a mild winter for the northerners as they waited out their prey. When the a plague started spreading throughout the ranks of the Olympic army- combined with the famine it was deadly. Only one third of the army survived them both. And that wasn't it. When Zeus realised his mistake he called for imminent retreat, wanting to make sure his army survived. The the northerners struck- With clothes as white as snow they moved like wraiths across the land, leaving no trace and only visible if they wanted to be seen. As the army was falling back arrows started to fly, attack during the night, fast raids of supply caravans. All was well-organised. With almost surgical precision the northerners had managed to destroy the biggest and most well-trained army in the kingdoms, with virtually no loss of lives.

Only a tenth of Zeus' men returned home, all of them were harmed, some suffered from chills- disfiguring them for life. All of them had something in common- no one of them wanted to follow someone to the north again, they all knew what winter ment and they all feared the colour white.

After that defeat Zeus had tried to get some of the other kings to help him with a second attack, but when they saw the damage done, none of them had any interest in the idea of a war they knew they couldn't win. It was not to say that Zeus hadn't done the first major harm anyone had done to the North, not even the armies of Othrys had gotten that far into the region, but he had failed his goal and he knew it. Magic still remained in the North and Zeus knew that if the northerners would gather up their numbers would be bigger than his army. What Zeus hadn't discovered about the North was that their weaponry was far better than he could imagine- the kingdoms used longbows which the North also had, but the Northerners had started using pistols, with their six-shot weapons they could take out more enemies from a greater distance in a shorter amount of time than before. All was to make sure that no one invaded again.

Annabeth had been six when the invasion started. She shouldn't have lived with her parents at that age, considering her runes, but for some unknown reason the Guild hadn't assigned a teacher to her. She remembered waking up the morning that the army passed her village. She had been the only survivor, and only because she was tiny. She had slept in her parent's bed and luckily for her she had slept completely under the covers. Her parents hadn't been so lucky- she remembered waking up in the night feeling that the bed was wet, at the time she had thought that it was just a bit of snow that had come through the window. Or perhaps she had wet herself, she went back to sleep deciding she was going to tell her parents about it in the morning. When daylight finally shone through the windows she nudged her father, trying to wake him up. He wouldn't. Then she saw that it wasn't just a colourless liquid as pee or melt-water would have been, it was blood-red. It was blood. She lost it. Shaking her mother, screaming for help, kicking her father's corpse trying to wake them both up. Everything from that point onwards was just a blurry mess of tears, sobbing, red and magic. She still remembered the first time.

A group of northerners had entered their village, trying to find survivors. She had thought they were the killers of her parents and she saw red, tears streaming down her face and her eyes glowed with anger. The men had all worn white capes and furs, as was usual for the northern warriors, she didn't remember how she managed to muster the power but she knew that in the blink of an eye- the time it took them to notice her, it was too late for all of them. Almost. When she saw them she felt her anger grow, like a beast waiting to be released. All her childhood she had always relied on facts and wits to get through her everyday life, even the few fights she got into were won through cunning, but when she saw the men she let her emotions flow and when she let the beast that was her anger go they didn't stand a chance. It was like a tidal-wave of raw power, directed directly at them. They had burst into fire, flames growing out of their eye-sockets, until they crumbled to dust. She hadn't noticed that one of them managed to escape. She later realised how he did it; he was runed, just like her, but his power was different- he could change his physical position faster than anyone could react and his reaction had been faster than the other's. He had instantly flashed behind her and, while his men burned alive, he tackled her in a hug. He started hushing calming words to her and suddenly she felt her anger disappear. It was like they shared a connection, like he understood her feelings and knew perfectly what would comfort her. He had picked her up- rubbing soothing circles on her back, singing a lullaby. He had arguably the best singing voice she had heard and his words were perfect for how she felt.

She didn't remember falling asleep but she remembered waking up somewhere else, in a castle. He had been in that room, without his gear he looked even more calming and his very presence made her want to hug him. They had continued to be that way until he spoke; "That was an impressive display of power you put up there. Even the strongest of the guildsmen would be able to do that." His words made her feel proud, even though there was a slight hint of annoyance in his voice, "But you still shouldn't be proud that you killed them!" Her smile vanished. She looked down, and remembered the innocent men she had disintegrated.

"What will you do to me?" she asked, genuinely afraid of his rage. He looked back at her with his ocean-blue eyes, he was calm and collected but his eyes didn't just prove that, they looked intelligent- like he took in every detail. She knew that not many people would notice it and that his aura of calmness often would get people to not think about his intelligence, but she couldn't miss it.

"I will offer you a position in which you will learn to control your emotions, so that things like this never happen again," he said, "As you may already guess I am runed, as are you. While you were asleep I read your mark and you seem to be destined to be my apprentice. It even says you will study the Shadow. Care to guess what my nickname is?"

"The Shadow," she said. Finally. She had been promised knowledge of the magicians for her entire life, since she was born- but no one had wanted her as an apprentice. She hadn't even been presented in front of the Guild as she heard that many children had. She didn't know why. Every time a runed child was born the closest guildsman was alerted and sent to the child's home, he read the marks and sent a letter to the Guild informing them of the child and what the marks said. Then the child would often get taken to the guild at the age of 3, before they could accidentally discover their true power. She had not been taken, and the only thing she heard about her marks was a silent mutter from her parents as they tried to explain why she hadn't gotten an education; "You will get your's in time, sweetheart!" was all that they said. Then the discussion had been over.

"How old are you Annabeth?" the man asked. Annabeth decided not to ask how he knew her name.

"I'm six years old," she answered. He was silent for a second.

"I guess that you want to know how I knew your name, the answer is simple; it says so on your back," Annabeth wasn't surprised. She had heard that the runes could say almost anything about a person, from when they would die to what they would eat when they were 60, "Your back is special, unlike most of the marks I've read. For example: My marks don't specify anything about me except my physical appearance. Your marks are almost like a guide for training you, stating everything from your name to when you would, and should be taken into training. I have no idea why the Guild decided it wasn't worth it to move you to their stronghold. By the display of power I saw from you and the power of your marks it would seem to me that they were afraid, afraid you might overthrow them," he let his words sink in. Annabeth's mind was spinning, what had he said? She? Powerful? The Hidden knew she couldn't overthrow the Guild, no one could. They were far too powerful when they joined forces. Many years ago a man called "the Phoenix" had tried to- he had gotten close to his goal of doing it but ultimately the villages hadn't come to support him, they liked to mind their own things, that was what made the North so strong. They all worked independant until something threatened them all- then they used all they had mustered for themselves to feed everyone so that everyone could fight their common enemy, but when someone tried to unify them they refused.

"Thinking about the Phoenix, eh?" he asked. "He used to be my apprentice, an amazing man. Sadly his life didn't quite go the way he expected. He was one of the most powerful of us. Do you know what his power was? He could gather people's strength inside of him, it didn't matter if they were his enemies- he would use their strength to share with his followers so that they all were strong, then he could also force it out in a wave of fire," His eyes gleamed and he looked at Annabeth, "Almost like your power, isn't it? Now. I want the answer to the question if you want to be my apprentice, to become the new Phoenix. Are you with me?" He smiled kindly at her. It didn't take her long to decide, she wanted to forget her what had happened to her parents, the feeling realising that she had been laying besides their dead corpses in a pool of their blood.

"Yes!" she answered.

* * *

Annabeth woke up from the dream. She was sweating. like it had been horrible, but she didn't understand why. The day she had become the Phoenix had become the best day of her life. He was a good, but demanding mentor. Fortunately for her he was also the perfect one for her, his intelligence knew almost no limits as he trained her in the arts of becoming an assassin, swords, knives, poisons. The most fun lessons had been languages. He spoke many fluently and he liked to teach her new ones. They even had a secret language that no one understood. They both spoke and understood it fluently.

"Milady!" she heard Chiron's voice again, "Wake up, you need to eat." He didn't speak the common language but used the southern-northern language. She guessed that this was because he didn't want people understanding that he called her a lady.

"Chiron, where did you tell them you were from?" she asked, thinking that if they realised that she and Chiron both spoke the same language and that he was from the north things would not be fun for her.

"I told them I am from the north of the Outposts, the Islands," this made sense to her. The Islands were literally the Islands that were located in the sea between the North and the Outposts. She tried to sit up but hours of laying chained to the wagon floor had made her arms and legs slow and weak so she just stumbled forward.

Once out of the cart Chiron lead her to a log where she sat down. She was handed a bowl- containing some form of meaty stew that smelled wonderfully compared to the mouldy bread she had gotten in the mines. The mines, the thought made her want to barf. She would never forget the things she saw there, nor the things they did to her there. The scars on her back would never go away. She promised herself that she would get revenge on the king that sentenced her there. In one way or another.

She ate the stew in less than a minute without thinking about taking it slowly- her stomach wasn't used to this type of food after a year of starving. She immediately regretted her decision as she stood up, feeling nauseous she stumbled in her chains towards the forest so that none of her guards would see how weak she was. She doubled forwards and emptied the entire meal out, not looking where she did it. A displeased sound told her that someone had been in front of her. She looked up to see Perseus standing there.

"Milord!" she shrieked. "I'm so sorry, milord!" He stared at her with disgust in his eyes. She was sure he wasn't used to people puking on him, not many royals were. He probably didn't even think she looked clean even though she had cleaned herself less than twenty-four hours before. She saw his hand moving up towards her face long before he actually moved but a year in the mines had dulled her reflexes, she felt his palm hitting her flat across her cheek.

"You filthy bastard!" he screamed, she felt her face burning. "These were new, and now you have ruined them! They cost more money than you've probably seen in you life!" Annabeth doubted that; in his stronghold the her mentor, the man known as 'the Shadow' had riches beyond what most people could imagine, the thing was: almost none of it was gold- most things were magic.

"How do you expect to repay me?" Perseus asked, then he stopped- as if he was thinking of something. The smirk that spread across his face gave Annabeth a hint of what he planned to do. "You may be my champion, but seeing as you are a slave and that you owe me an excessive amount of wealth we might just be able to make a deal." He moved forward, his body pressing her against a tree. Annabeth couldn't move, partially because of her chains but also because she was out of words. He was going to rape her! And they called her a savage for being from the North, at least northerners didn't rape people!

"Don't you dare call for help, girl. If you do I swear that you will regret it. We only picked you because of the outstanding performance as you tried to escape. Killing almost half of the guards, impressive. But you'll need a lot of training and something more than beginner's luck if you want to survive your time in Elysium." As he said this his hand snaked up from behind her, grabbing her rear. She yelped in surprise but didn't say anything more, she didn't want him doing anything worse to her. Pain she knew- her mentor had made sure she could take it. But rape? No way was her first time going to be rape by an angry lordling. She prayed to the Hidden that someone would walk onto them.

A twig snapped but Perseus didn't seem to notice, not until strong arms pried him off.

"What are you doing milord?!" Chiron asked. Perseus looked as if he was trying not to punch Chiron for interrupting him.

"What are you doing here Captain?" he said with through his teeth.

"Looking for her, she stumbled off and it is my duty to bring her back to camp," was Chiron's answer.

"That bastard threw up on my new boots, I expect her to pay," Perseus sounded like he was annoyed that Chiron had come to Annabeth's rescue.

"Right now I don't trust you around her, who knows what she is capable of doing after this. She's already killed fifty men in the mines!" Chiron retorted, "And she is to be your champion at the games, you shouldn't have a bad relationship with your servants milord."

Perseus gestured with a hand for Chiron to take her back to camp. When they left Annabeth heard him mutter, "Bad relation, she should be honoured by me touching her."

When they got far enough away from him Annabeth heard Chiron release a deep breath,

"I didn't mean to! I've just eaten good food for the first time in a year, my stomach can't handle it!" Annabeth said to her defense. It was true, she knew of many people who died from getting too much food after they'd been pardoned from the mines.

"I know you didn't, but you've got to remain a low profile, milady! We can't have them find out about your back." For the second time that day Annabeth heard a twig snap when she most desperately didn't want people spying on her. This time it was Lukas, who, emerging from a bush looked like he was in deep thought. Annabeth looked towards Chiron who had an expression of shock on his face. He met her eyes and she saw the relief when he realised that they'd been speaking one of the northern languages.

"Lord Lukas! These woods are dangerous, it's said that rebels roam in here," Chiron was quick to say with a quick bow. Lukas still looked deep in thought, until he seemed to realise something.

"So she is a bastard then, it wasn't just me who thought she seemed know too little of our language and customs?" It was more of a statement than it was a question, "Because that was norse right? You speak norse captain?"

"Yes I speak northern-tongue," Chiron replied with calm, "It is because of the strategic location of the islands that I come from that I've managed to learn it by listening to merchants and of the teacher my father employed so that I could become a more cultured person." If Lukas didn't trust them he didn't let it show. Instead he asked,

"Where are you from captain, and where is she from?"

"I'm from a island between the Northern mainland and the Outposts, and she is from the south peak of the North, what they call the south."

"Then why is she here in the kingdoms?" It was a simple question, not many northerners were interested in the kingdoms and their scheming. Especially not since the failed invasion. Chiron thought over his answer for a second before he asked Annabeth,

"Why are you here?" Annabeth's answer that she had practiced many days was simply that her father and employer sent her there. Chiron nodded and translated his answer to the common-tongue. Lukas studied her for a while and Annabeth felt her face flush red. He grinned at her reaction before he turned on his heel and walked back to their camp.

"I hope to give you lessons in our language then" he said after having walked a few steps. Annabeth's thoughts stopped. Spending time with the handsome count? She felt her face grow even redder. No! Think Annabeth! she thought to herself. You are not going to be another one of his conquests. With this though she let Chiron help her to camp.

* * *

 **Skuggan**

The man walked through his room, first he'd lost the father and then the daughter. Things weren't going as he had planned. He just had to figure out what had gone wrong, whilst still keeping his supporters in the Guild updated on what happened. As soon as she was in position the entire plan was going to unfold, everything was calculated for, except the capture.

He knew that he was going to die in the battle to come but he was determined to see it through. What was rightfully hers would return to her once more. The death of the father had been a severe blow, but the power he saw was even greater…

 **A/N: Thank you for reading this, if you like it please review and suggest thing I can do better. If you like this story I recommend the book called _Throne of Glass_ by Sarah J. Maas. **


	3. Dance of Steel

**Most of the characters belong to Rick Riordan.**

 **The map I used for this is a modified European map.**

 **Link in the summary**  


 _Lukas Castellan_

The city of Rome was one of the most stunning sights in the world, Luke knew this and threw a couple of glances towards his champion. They couldn't have more spectacular things to see in the North, but if she was impressed she didn't show it. She had a small frown, as if she was thinking of something and Luke was sure she did- her eyes looked too intelligent to not think of strategies all the time.

Luke had long since figured out that something had irritated Percy because he was quite, he guessed it was something about Percy's boots and their champion who he still didn't know the name of. He had to find out sometime, he planned to do it while he was teaching her the common tongue during their daily lessons. But first they had to get to the Elysian court, the most fashionable one- what you wore literally affected who talked to you. If you didn't keep up with the trends- which could change from day to day, everyone would look at you like you were a barbarian, a northerner. In Luke's eyes the court in Rome was more poisonous that the olympian one, even though people didn't try to kill each other as often as in the olympian court. In the Elysian noble you were forced to spend your money, always keeping up with the trends. This was easy for the rich, like Percy and Luke, but was almost impossible for the poorer nobles. If they couldn't afford a new attire for a feast then they would be thrown out of court and then lose their only way to get a better life. If they had just enough money they would struggle and as soon as they ran out of money they would lose their place in the court. The people who had money didn't care about the poorer, as always, and only focused on getting the most fashionable clothes.

As they rode into the city he heard Annabeth talk with Chiron, and was surprised when he heard their tone. He was no expert on the northern language but he was certain that that was not the tone someone talked with their guard with, not even if the guard was guarding them from people instead of making sure that they didn't run away. She laughed at something Chiron said and her white teeth flashed in the sun. Gods, he thought, she was beautiful. The way her body moved- with the agility and balance of a cat, the way smiled when she laughed. All perfect, like if she had practiced it, but he guessed she didn't. Although an old rumour came to his mind, one that spoke of the people of the North before magic was banned in the kingdoms- they had traded more with the kingdoms, and some merchants even travelled to the North. It was the only reason that Atlantis created a port in the Outlands, the rise in trade. When magic had been banned in the kingdoms the trade stopped, the North closed up- like if they were scared of something.

People didn't know what it was about but a rumour had started to spread that the people of the North were horrible beasts, that they slept with the children of the forest and created various half-breeds. No one knew where the rumour was from, many suspected that Zeus had bought the witnesses of the merchants who travelled to the North. The rumour said that the children of the men and the forest spirits had enhanced abilities compared to normal humans- they could use magic, were more agile and were stronger. It was also said that they had slightly pointed ears and sharp canine teeth, but none of it could be true. When Luke looked at Annabeth he saw no evidence of sharp canines, pointy ears or magic, and the agility part could be explained by her just being agile. He decided not to think about it too hard. Life was meant to be lived, and they were justheading to the biggest party in existence.

* * *

They had arrived to the court just after lunch, when everybody was relaxing. The courtiers had led them to the throne room to be presented to the king and queen. The ceremony had been dull, too many names and titles and formalities for Annabeth. The only thing worth noting was the crown princess, Piper. She had been sitting beside her father's throne in a smaller one, but she had been nervous and shy, wriggling away and blushing red with every compliment. Especially from Perseus. Perseus. Annabeth still didn't know how to handle herself around him, one moment he wanted to be treated as her equal and the next he wanted to rape her. She guessed that he wanted to be seen as a mature royal, not the spoiled brat that she suspected many of the children of the courts were. After the presentations they were led to their chambers in order to clean up and dress to formal attire, instead of their travelling clothes.

Annabeth was in the bath when a servant entered. She instantly scrambled to hide herself, unsure how she should act around the older woman. The servant was old, her clothes were the standard servants clothes- white linen instead of silks and other luxuries that the ladies of the court used, this was because she was employed by the king to serve the court and thus her clothes had to be paid for by him, it couldn't be too expensive. Her face was wrinkled, her hair gray and she seemed calm and grandmotherly.

She said, "Count Lukas sent me to help you get dressed," she paused, looking at Annabeth curled up in the bath. "But look at you, you're so skinny milady! You look almost like a skeleton, we have to get you on a nice diet. Oh, and by the way my name is Chariclo. You've already met my husband," she said. Annabeth thoughts went spiralling, who had she met that seemed remotely this age?

Chariclo must've realised it was a little vague as she said, "My husband's name is Chiron, he told me about you and that I shouldn't speak with anyone about you, so you can be open to me. I know you've had it rough here but don't judge the royals, it's in their blood to behave this way, to think that they own the world. Honestly I think that not all of them are bad, especially not Perseus- his father is one of the few royals who actually talk to his subjects and help them out. He must've taught his son some of that. But you should be careful around King Zeus' kid. The prince, Jason, is just like his father- strong, handsome and spoiled. He takes what he doesn't get, and pretty ladies should never be alone around him."

Annabeth wasn't entirely sure how to react to this, Perseus hadn't really been respectful, but everyone could have a bad day. She let the older lady help her out of the bath, scrubbed clean from all of the filth of the trip. Chariclo stopped when she saw Annabeth's back.

"I–I–I'm sorry, b–but how?" she asked, memories of the mines rushed over Annabeth and when Chariclo saw her pained expression she decided not to ask more. "Never mind dear, don't worry about that."

Chariclo left huffing something about "interrogating that old man" and came back with a midnight blue dress. Annabeth touched the expensive silk fabric and purred at how soft it was. The material itself must've cost more than Chariclo earned in a year.

"Who paid for this?" Annabeth asked.

"I would guess lord Lukas did, but I'm not sure. Your entire wardrobe is filled with dresses like these in all different colours and shapes," was the old woman's answer. Annabeth wasn't really that surprised, Lukas had to dress his champion properly, and though the dress wasn't to low-cut in the front it was sure to show a bit of her breast to everyone who looked. The dress would serve as a reminder to her- that he legally owned her, and to everyone else- that she was his. She hoped he wouldn't take advantage of his rights, and that she would gain her freedom without killing him- but if it came to it, she would do whatever it took to be free again.

Dressing up in the dress was harder than she remembered. She had hardly worn anything this fancy in the North or as an assassin serving the rich in the kingdoms. The corset- Chariclo said- was unnecessary since she was so thin, but when she started getting some curves again she would probably need it- lest the trends changed again.

When she was ready Chariclo pushed her into the corridor and told the guard to lead her to count Lukas' chambers. The guards escorted her around in the endless maze that was the palace until the arrived at a big double door. A few knocks from the guard and a voice inside shouted "Enter". The guard left her outside as she opened the door and walked in.

* * *

 _Reyna Ramirez-Arellano_

Reyna didn't care much for the court. She had arrived there a couple of hours ago- at the same time as lord Lukas' entourage entered the city and the stream of gossip was already enough to suffocate her. From what she had heard and seen at least one other champion was there, a skinny girl who seemed confused about how to act in a palace and who only spoke a few words of the common tongue. Reyna didn't think much of this champion, she seemed more like a lover to lord Lukas than his actual champion. From what she knew she guessed that Lukas would have an ace up his sleeve and his real champion would arrive in the last second- from what Bianca had told her prince Perseus also supported Lukas' champion and it would make sense for them to do something like that, Lukas was rumored to be a trickster. The gossipers of the court also had snapped up that Lukas was buying dresses and jewelry for her, supporting the argument that she was just another conquest. They also had "lessons" in the common tongue in the lord's private chambers, Reyna knew just how well lessons could become something more intimate.

Luckily for Reyna and Bianca no one suspected them to have any sort of special relationship. Reyna hoped for her lover's sake that it took some time for the gossips to figure out why Bianca hadn't married someone yet. Bianca had explained to her, in the aftermath of their first time, that it was legal and socially accepted for a woman to marry another woman in Hades. To Reyna- who at the time was confused about her feelings for the princess, this was surprising, but she didn't complain. The kingdom of Hades was a far better place than the kingdom of Olympia, in more than a few ways, the marriage laws being only one. Maybe the world would've been better if it was allowed in the other kingdoms. If the public opinion of the kings and queens had been good they maybe wouldn't have to be so paranoid and angry towards each other. Maybe Zeus would've won his war if his soldiers would want to fight for him, but maybe it wouldn't have made a difference- the warriors of the North were said to be trained from the age of two. They didn't feel pain like most men, and women. They continued to fight even if they lost arms and legs. Then again- maybe the winter had been the biggest killer. The winters of the North were said to be so harsh that no one who hadn't been raised there would never survive.

Reyna thought about the warriors of the North, stronger and more brutal than any other. Was this only a result of them being handed away when they were young? Both Nico and Bianca had been left at a young age because their mother died and their father couldn't take them to his palace in fear of what his wife would do if he presented them as his bastards. Both of them had lived in an orphanage that took care of children that would otherwise live on the street, the only way they survived was because they learned how to fight. They had been adopted into the royal family a few years after- when a medic proclaimed Persephone barren.

Reyna had met Bianca years later when the circus that owned her performed at a royal banquet. Reyna was a fighter, and had been a fighter from young age. Her sister had abandoned her on the street where she was forced to steal and fight to survive. She had become a slave when the city guard had caught her and decided to sell her on the slave market. She had almost been sold of to a brothel mother- a person who bought young girls, trained them to become prostitutes and then sold them off to the highest bidder for the night. Reyna was close to becoming a prostitute when she decided that it was not the life she wanted- she managed to fight free and got almost 200 yards before they caught her and chained her to the stage. She knocked out five guards in her attempt and a man who was in awe of her skills bought her. She was trained to become a warrior amongst the man's circus. Being able to defeat opponents whilst wearing dresses and being a woman was a nice party trick that many idiotic men would lose money to. And they did. The night she saw Bianca she had defeated almost the entire royal guard of Hades before finally losing to the prince Nico, who was an excellent swordsman.

Bianca had introduced herself at Reyna's training the day after. The blonde girl had walked up to Reyna's owner and with a few words that Reyna didn't hear she gave a bag that seemed to contain coins to the man and the gestured for Reyna to come in.

"This is your new owner Reyna, Princess Bianca of Hades," her previous owner said before walking away playing with his bag of coins. Bianca studied Reyna up and down before gesturing for her to follow. They walked a bit in silence, Reyna taking in every detail of the palace, the garden, the princess she walked beside.

"I want to offer you a place as my personal guard," Bianca said. Had she asked her? was all Reyna could think. Owners didn't ask their slaves if they wanted things. The ordered and the slaves obeyed. Bianca looked at Reyna's surprised face and said, "What? You are free to deny if you don't want. It is your choice, you are free to say no."

"As you wish, milady," Reyna said- her voice trembled a bit. Was she free? No. No one would buy a slave and give the slave their freedom. Bianca's expression changed from serious to delighted.

"Thank you Reyna, I expect you to report to my room tomorrow morning," the princess giggled.

They hadn't gotten romantic until about a year afterwards, when Reyna had settled with her new freedom and gotten used to standing guard around the princess. Bianca had just gotten out of her bath, Reyna guarding her chambers as always, and instead of calling for her servants to come help her dress she jumped into her bed.

"Join me Reyna," Bianca had commanded. Reyna thought she was joking- it was not a guards place to be in the bed of her client. But when Bianca had commanded again she decided it was better not to make the princess angry and climbed into the bed. She was somewhat uncomfortable as the princess began taking her armour off. What would the king do if he found them like this? Would he punish Reyna?

Bianca let out a huffed sound of impatience that brought Reyna out of her thoughts and rolled her eyes before she dragged the surprised guard deeper into the cushions.

It turned out Reyna quite liked it- the softness of the bed against her naked skin, and most importantly, the feeling of what the crown princess of Hades did to her body. It was pure pleasure and Reyna was sure to let Bianca know that afterwards.

The King hadn't found out until many years afterwards when he managed to find them in bed. Reyna had, in the months after her relationship with Bianca intensified, been promoted to handmaiden of the princess- a great honour that many of the ladies at court were jealous of. Reyna pretended not to be hurt by their words but she cried into Bianca's shoulder many nights. Being the handmaiden of the princess meant that you helped her get dressed, fetched food and drinks and made sure she was happy. Reyna liked to make Bianca happy and she loved the excess amount of alone time they now had when no one would bat an eye at them for being together in Bianca's chambers. King Hades had walked into his daughter's rooms during one of her heated sessions with her handmaiden but, as he had explained to Reyna- after the initial shock of being discovered, naked as the day they were born, started to fade- he was proud that his daughter had found love and that she wanted to stay with Reyna even though many people in the other kingdoms would think they were crazy. He walked out and said to them that if they ever wanted some alone time after a banquet he would make sure that they were given it. He walked smiling out into the corridor.

Reyna figured it would be a little hard for Bianca to explain their relationship to the other children of the monarchs if they were discovered but she trusted Bianca enough to manage it. None would ask Reyna as she was only a handmaiden- a girl with no noble bloodline and therefore no speech amongst the royals. It was almost like if she didn't exist to them, which she was glad for in a way, but it was still a horrifying feeling that they wouldn't care if she died.

* * *

When Reyna walked into the training room she noticed a large crowd gathered around two fencers. They were mumbling as if something was very interesting- which when Reyna moved closer she noticed they were. The crowd stood in a semi-circle around the fencers who danced around on the sand. Reyna recognised every move and every strike- trying to figure out who would win and how she would win.

The first fencer was an elderly man. His long hair was brown with streaks of gray in it. Half of it was sticking to his face and the rest hung loosely- framing in his face. He looked like he had seen much wind a rain in his life as his face was rough and wrinkled like a sailor's. He was the tallest person in the room and in the court. He wore standard guard armour- leather and iron, he somehow made his old and marred armour seem like a trophy and she guessed it was. It proved for how long he had been serving and how many people that never managed to bring him down. The man was Chiron, one of the best swordsmen in the kingdoms and probably the best instructor for swordplay. He wielded his one-hand sword and his shield with expert grace that would be deadly if he decided to use it against someone. And he was.

The second fencer was the girl that was rumoured to be lord Lukas' champion. She had princess hair- blonde and curly, and was tall, perhaps 5 feet 10 inches. The girl was skinny like she had had a shortage of food for a long period of time. She looked like a skeleton compared to many of the other ladies- even though it was custom to be thin. Her eyes were the most interesting part of her physical appearance- they were storm gray and distant. It looked like she was thinking of a million things at a time which combined with her skills with the sword was terrifying for Reyna. Any person that could spar with Chiron and hold their ground was good- but if they could do it whilst thinking of other things like a complex mathematical problem? It was horrifying for Reyna as she realised that she might have a worthy opponent in the skinny girl. The girl fought with control that only an experienced fencer could muster. She only had a sword and was at a disadvantage since she couldn't defend without stopping her attacks.

Chiron was winning and the girl must be realising it since her attacks got more and more desperate until she ended on the floor with a sword to her throat. The girl was panting hard as Chiron helped her to her feet and the crowd dispersed. Reyna just stared in awe at the two people in front of her- a thin girl that could go toe to toe with a master swordsman, and Chiron- a master swordsman. She wondered if she had been wrong when she judged the girl before she saw her.

Chiron looked from the girl to Reyna before he said something in a strange language- the gesture he made with his hands told Reyna that they were going to leave. The girl sent a glare Reyna's direction as if she didn't want to stop training and felt that it was all Reyna's fault that she had to. The girl walked out of the room leaving Chiron and Reyna alone.

"That was quite a show you put up," Reyna said, hoping for any sort of clue to whether or not the girl would be Lukas' champion. Chiron didn't give her what she hoped for.

"Yes, she is talented. But she still needs training- her muscles are too weak and her sense of motion is wrong. I do however understand why milord wants her trained, it would be dangerous for a pretty girl to walk around a foreign court not knowing how to defend herself. Many others might be jealous," Chiron replied with a smile. Something in his tone told Reyna that it was not her place to ask more questions- she decided not to anger him and let him walk away with a silent nod.

She turned to one of the dummies and unsheathed her sword. She knew that if she wanted a chance to beat this champion she would have to practice, a lot.

* * *

 _Annabeth Chase_

Annabeth had had a bad day. Firstly- the dress she had worn had been tight and uncomfortable, and though its beauty did somewhat make up for it she still hated it. She felt like she was trapped in a cage and she couldn't move. Then there was the fact that when her legs itched she couldn't scratch the irritating spot and she had almost gone mad trying to figure out how to do it. Two- when she had finally wriggled her way out of the damned piece of garment she had gone to the training room with Chiron to finally see how much of her swordplay skills she had lost after a year in the mines. She hated to think that she had lost as much as she had but her movements had been sloppy and her precision off. Her mentor- the mysterious 'Shadow'- would've beaten her up before leaving her on the floor until she got up would she ever be that slow. He wouldn't have talked to her until she had trained her agility up to an acceptable level- something that could take days. But Chiron had only knocked her to the floor and told her 'good job'. She wasn't sure if she was to take this as an insult considering she was supposed to be the best at everything she did- or at least the second best, her mentor would always be better than her- something he was sure to show her in every way possible. Whenever she came to show him some new skill she learned he always showed her he was better by beating her. The thing he'd said was that it was not good for the student to ever be better than the teacher, and that the student shouldn't feel pride for knowing something that everyone else already knew. This had worked well with Annabeth's desire to learn new things. If she wanted to learn he was sure to tell help her- but if she thought she was better than him he would make sure she knew her place.

The training room was silent when Annabeth walked in the second time that day. The competition was scheduled to begin within five days so she would make sure that she was up to par with her old self before it started. The dummy was tucked away in a side room so she had to drag it to the sandy floor. When it was in place she jumped into action- strike after strike, jab after jab- until she lost count of the time and her arm ached. She didn't stop although most trainers would've called a break since she would be too tired. She used the wooden figure to drain out all of her anger over being lazy, slow, weak. She was too focused too notice that someone sneaked into the room.

Duck, slash, roll. Everything went in one motion- faster than many could comprehend. She was feeling the sword- living the dance of steel, at one with the blade. She was flowing. She was like water. Calm and collected. Like a viper- silent and deadly. Swift as a river. She jumped and slashed- splinters flying everywhere. She rolled to the side, hacking into the solid wood of the dummy- sweat was pouring all over her but she felt free and relaxed. Nothing calmed her more than practicing, and nothing would be more fun than to see someone realise just how fast she could be in the competition. Dodging from an imaginary slash she feinted low by dropping her body down but swinged upward in a motion that would decapitate many opponents as they wouldn't realise what she had done.

She was the sword- its motion through the air and the sound it made as it hit the wood. She skipped to the right before jumping to the left, dodging the invisible opponents. Annabeth jumped into a somersault over the dummy- sailing through the air over its head- slashing out with the sword and landing with her back to it and her sword pointing towards its feet. She heard the head clatter to the ground and then silence- eerie silence that would freak out most other people. Then a soft clap.

A girl- no older than 15 walked around the dummy and looked at Annabeth with wide eyes.

"How did you learn to move that fast?" she asked. Annabeth stared in disbelief at the girl who was wearing an expensive dress and perfect makeup that looked natural. She was petite, one word Annabeth would associate with this girl was pretty- she had caramel hair and beautiful eyes that seemed to change colour as she moved. She had a small form, she had probably flowered a couple of months ago considering her chest was flat.

"Your teacher must've driven you hard right? I wish that I would learn to fight like you, but considering what what my—my fiance says that women shouldn't wield swords. That their fights are in the bed- giving life to children, and that men's fights are on the battlefield." She stopped a little at the word _fiance_ , like she didn't want it to be like that and that someone had forced her into a marriage.

"I'm sorry but do I know you?" Annabeth asked, a little confused.

"I am Piper, my father owns this place." The girl looked at Annabeth with those big eyes again. "Who are you?"

"I'm Annabeth Chase, milady," Annabeth said as she realised that this was princess Piper, daughter of Tristan- king of Elysium. "I'm to be lord Lukas' champion in the games."

"Nice to meet you, Annabeth," the princess said. "But please stop calling me lady, or princess, or any title at all. Just call me Piper." The girl eyed Annabeth from head to toe.

"Alright Piper," Annabeth said. "but aren't you the princess of this place, can't you do whatever you want in this country? I'm sure that your father would appreciate it if his daughter started taking lessons."

Piper looked in disbelief at Annabeth. "Is it worth a try? I want to do something other than this endless amount of complimenting people and ladies who are trying to win a favour by befriending me. Can you recommend any teacher or should I ask my father to find one for me?" They continued talking like this for some time, Annabeth giving tips about good fencers and carefully answering questions about where she came from. She didn't trust Piper yet- and she probably never would- she would never trust a person the same since she had been captured. She was certain that she had been betrayed, otherwise no one would've caught her in that market at that time. Someone must've tipped someone to give her up- and she had payed for that mistake for quite some time. After a long time of small talk and various other things Annabeth excused herself and left the princess with the argument that she had a long day of training ahead of herself the next day and that she had to go to sleep.

She left Piper and instantly fell asleep as soon as she touched her bed, not bothering with taking off her clothes.

* * *

The next day king Tristan of Elysium announced that he was looking for a teacher that taught swordsmanship. He didn't imply that it was for his daughter but only that whoever got the post would be paid handsomely. Thousands of warriors dragged themselves as fast as they could to try to win the favour of the king. No one succeeded the first day. On the second day a man arrived, he wore old, black clothes and at his side hung a marred sword. Still his presence was unnerving for many of the other warriors who had gathered around the king. He didn't speak with any other man and the only thing he said was that he wanted to speak to the king in private. After an hour the clang of swords could be heard from the king's chambers before it stopped. The fight must've taken only ten seconds maximum, and the the royal guard was called upon. When they opened the doors they saw the man sitting with their king, with a goblet of wine in his hand. In front of him lay a signed contract, signed Theseus. The king soon announced that he no longer needed the other warriors and the city went back to normal, for almost everyone.

* * *

 _Piper McLean_

Piper had been excited, it was the first day since her father had announced he was looking for a teacher for her and he had already decided. Her lessons were scheduled to begin within an hour and she was already wondering how this teacher would be. Would he be like Chiron, lord Lukas' old captain? Or would he be a middle aged man with a weather-torn face? To her surprise it turned out she was wrong. It was no old man that stood before her as she entered the room, but a you man. No older than 25 years. He presented himself a Theseus and her new mentor. He was calm and collected when he stared her down- taking in her features. His eyes were like the ocean- blue and deep. It was like you could get lost in them to the extent of never getting back out, drowning you and sucking you down whilst still remaining calm. The were also like the ocean in that they concealed an endless depth of something, in his case it felt like knowledge.

"So," he started. "I will be your instructor in the dance of steel, the fine movements of the sword. My name is Theseus. Nice to meet you Piper McLean."

"How did you know my last name?" Piper asked, not many people knew her full name- they mostly used her title as princess as a substitute, the only people who knew were scholars and her father and mother.

"I have my ways. Now let's not delve in the past and let us get on to training. I expect you to be present here every day, 9 O'clock, starting tomorrow, we will practice until lunch and then you will have the rest of the day off. I want you to be dressed according to the latest fashion as _you_ -" he was sure to specify that she was the one, "- will probably never find yourself dressed for war. It's better if you learn to cheat, to take shortcuts that your enemies won't expect- you must use your size to your advantage."

He continued like this for some time, about how she had to be swift and soft as water whilst still being dangerous like a viper. Then he showed her an obstacle course and told her to finish it in under a minute. She crawled and climbed and rushed but to no avail. She couldn't do what he tasked her to.

Theseus huffed at this and said something about a slow learner. "We will practice this course many times every lesson until you've mastered it.

The next day was the same, continuous goes at the obstacle course, but this time they had onlookers. One she noticed had raven black hair, he was prince Perseus of Atlantis. The other was to her dismay prince Jason of Olympia, son of king Zeus- also her fiance. He had sandy blonde hair and electric blue eyes that seemed to stare at the chests of ladies and who was rumoured to have many lovers in the city- just like his father. She didn't have high regards for him and she was only marrying him because her mother said it- whatever she said was almost always law at her court. She guessed that the two men had only come there for a good laugh over how bad she was and when she heard Jason joking about how fun it would be to see girls fight with swords she wasn't surprised. Someone that was surprised however was Theseus, as he walked up towards Jason with anger in his eyes.

"What did you say, _boy_? You better hope you didn't say what I heard you say!"Jason flinched at the anger in his tone.

"What did you say _lord_ , you should show respect to your superiors. Otherwise things might not go well for you. We wouldn't want that good health and spirit of yours to disappear would we," Jason laughed. Perseus didn't look amused in the slightest and stared at his friend in disbelief.

"In exactly what way are you my superior, _milord_ ," Theseus spat. "I would like to see just how good you are with that fancy sword of yours, if you can stand by your words- since you just insulted my student and personally threatened me. Many men have not been so lucky as you've been. As I said I would like to see you fight, but we wouldn't want you running home crying behind daddy would we, that would be below us." Piper realised how he wanted to play this- he was passively insulting Jason in front of Perseus and Jason would _not_ ,considering how prideful he was, take that sort of an insult in front of a friend.

"Did you just insult me!" Jason screamed. "No one insults me! I will meet you in the arena in an hour! Hopefully you will have learned your lesson by then and you will grovel before me and kiss my feet asking for my forgiveness!"

"See you in the arena then, princeling. Hopefully you will not be too foolish." Jason spat at the ground before Theseus' feet before rushing away, his anger showing in his brightly red face.

Theseus turned to Piper before saying, "Class dismissed. I would like you to attend this duel, perhaps you'll get some ideas as to how you will beat the course." He turned and walked away.

* * *

Jason had been waiting in the arena for twenty minutes, warming up his shoulders and legs- making sure that he was fast. Piper had only been there ten minutes before, but it seemed the entire court had heard the word about a duel. The king was laughing in his pavilion, watching Jason warm up with a goblet of wine in his hand.

Perseus had filled her out on just how much Jason wanted to win it, how he had turned up in full armour, brightly polished until the golden metal glowed and how he said he wouldn't spare this stupid peasant if he didn't grovel at his feet instantly.

Theseus entered the arena at the very time the clock chimed marking the hour that had passed. Jason's smile faded when he saw the man take his stance. Theseus didn't have any armour on, he wore black leather clothes and at his side hung his old sword. He walked up to the king and bowed with grace before settling his eyes on Jason.

The king held up his hand and the arena went quiet. He held up a napkin that was to symbolise when the fencers would start. He dropped it and Jason charged instantly, releasing a flurry of strikes that went too fast to recognise- only a blur could be seen by Piper.

Perseus leaned in and whispered to her, "Jason is at a disadvantage and he knows it, any man wearing full armour will lose to a man not wearing any. He will get tired too quickly and then he will get picked off easily- so he's trying to finish this as fast as possible."

It turned out Theseus seemed to know this to, as he didn't even draw his sword- relying on his extreme reflexes to dodge all the strikes Jason threw at him. One moment he was standing up, the next second he was leaning so far back his head touched the ground before throwing himself left.

When he finally drew his sword he was sure to do it dramatically, letting everyone see its blade as it was drawn soundlessly from its sheath. The blade looked nothing like the hilt- it was not marred, or withered. It was like ice- white, and it seemed to ripple as he moved it around. It was also thin like a snowflake. The temperature seemed to drop drastically in the room once it was out, everyone froze in their seats and awaited the next progression in the fight.

To their surprises it didn't help waiting for the strikes that were about to come, since no one reacted fast enough to see them. One second the prince was standing up facing the man, the other second the man was walking away- out the exit that the prince had come in from- leaving the prince on his back with a clear red line across his throat. Blood was seeping out of the chink in the armour across his throat- which the prince wiped off before screaming at everyone to leave.

While everyone left Piper, Perseus and the king all hurried to the furious prince's side. They helped Jason take his armour off before he shoved them away, throwing his helmet in anger. His delicate ego had been hurt and there was nothing he could do about it since everyone at court had seen it happen, or at least they had recognized the pattern of motion that had been used against him, no one had been fast enough to notice the motion or the strike that brought him down.

"That was one of the best duels I've seen in my days," Piper's father bellowed, "You sure you don't want a rematch against him kid, I'm sure everyone will be glad to see it happen." Jason just stared at him, probably considering shutting him up for good and the realising that that wouldn't do any good with the other kingdoms if the loser of a duel was to kill someone who congratulated the victor.

The king walked off, Jason storming in his trail leaving Perseus and Piper alone. Perseus looked at Piper before gesturing in the direction that Jason headed.

"I—I'm sorry but I have to go after him," he said with a blush, before turning rushing after Jason. Piper was left alone in the arena, not even noticing that her cheeks burned until she noticed the blush fading…

* * *

 **A/N: Back from Pchum Ben holiday! Another term in hell is starting, sadly :(**

 **Notes about this chapter: It's longer than my chapters usually are, so don't expect more of these long ones in the future. Reyna/Bianca is happening and I'll probably not change it in this fic, maybe in sequels(if they are planned(*hint hint)). I've also been thinking of where I want to take this story and I've pretty much gotten it down. The plot will move along very soon, a prophecy might appear in the next chapter. Review if you enjoy!**

 **/mOsbricka**


	4. Songs of the Forgotten

**Most characters belong to Rick Riordan.**

 **The modified European map used for this is on my profile.**

 **A/N: This story shows negative ideas regarding things like women's rights and homosexuality, amongst others. These thoughts are not mine, I am only trying to represent a 1400-1600 A.D Europe. In Europe, at this time, homosexuality was not seen in a positive light although many important renaissance figures participated in it, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci for example, feminism was completely unheard of and women were way below men in society. I highly recommend you do the research if you do not believe me.**

 **In regards to my style of writing I'm a very unorthodox writer- most other fanfiction writers have linear storylines that follow the clear pattern of the books. I personally am not a big fan of these stories as they are too linear, a story shouldn't be black and white, it should have a sense of deep- like the books of George R.R. Martin, who is my big idol when it comes to writing. I strive to keep this story as unpredictable as possible and hope that you will enjoy it.**

 _Piper_

After Jason got smacked down in the arena no one saw the prince outside of his chambers. Perseus told her everything about how pathetic he had been afterwards, as he took off his armour he had formed many plans of how he was to take out what he called 'a threat to the stability of the realm'. The rest of the day had passed on for Piper as she had been in her training room, trying to go through the obstacle course that Theseus set up. She completely forgot the competition that Annabeth was to participate in and only got to hear about it when Perseus came and delivered her food.

She had been so focused on the cursed thing that she didn't notice him coming in, only his voice disrupted her concentration, "I thought you would need food, lady Piper," Perseus said, her head snapped in the direction of his voice. Food? How long had she been here?

"What time is it? Have I missed anything special?" she asked before it hit her, the competition! She was supposed to be there, she had even betted for Lukas' champion. She mentally facepalmed.

"It is about time to eat, I would say maybe an hour past dusk," he said. "And you have missed something special, the competition! Lukas certainly made a good choice of a champion, in the archery round we had now she scored number one–" he threw her a bag of coins. "– and this is what you've won. The odds were not in your favour but it seems lady Fortuna brought you a win."

"Thank you lord Perseus, how did it go for the other champions? I am s–"

"Please, just call me Percy," he interrupted her. A kind smile plastered onto his face. Piper blushed and scrambled to continue.

"I–you–I–okay Percy, then you should call me Piper." Crossing her arms over her chest she stared back at him. The silent contest was interrupted by another person entering the room.

"Been practicing the whole day, have we? That is what I hope to see in my students–" it was Theseus' deep and soothing voice that said it. He continued, "–the things that I didn't expect would be in this generation- determination, persistence. Not since the big changes were–" He stopped, obviously having said more than enough.

"–Not that you would care about that," he finished.

Piper blurted out, "What big changes?" A huff from Percy and a glare from Theseus told her to shut it.

"Nothing that you should care your pretty little head about, most people who cared about it are dead now. But it affected you all. It is something only the brave or the crazy talk about," Theseus signified the talk was over by turning his body so that his back was against them.

Percy was obviously uncomfortable with the silence that followed the statement and said, "If it's not too much to ask; how did you beat Jason so fast? I couldn't find any flaws in your fighting and was barely able to see what you did."

"It is not too much to ask, if you come to the training room tomorrow I can have a lesson with you whilst lady Piper here tries to beat the obstacle course." Theseus had turned and was now looking at Percy. "I'm sure you are a skilled swordsman as I had the honour to meet your father once. Like father like son right?"

Percy seemed surprised about this, Piper could see that he was thinking of how to ask the next question.

"I will not tell you when or how I met your father. That is something you'll have to figure out by yourself. Though it's good boy, know your past so that you can understand your future. The very principle our world seems to turn by. If you want to learn about your past, I strongly recommend swallowing that royalist proud of yours and go to one of the hidden story-houses this city has to offer, what you'll hear will set some gears in motion in your brain."

With that statement out Theseus turned and walked away, leaving Piper and Percy in an awkward silence. Piper suddenly felt a pain flash through her muscles as her body caught up with the intense exercises she had been doing from dawn to dusk with only a brief stop for food.

She excused herself to Percy and left the room. As soon as she reached her chambers and fell onto her bed she fell asleep.

* * *

She woke up, feeling incredibly tired. Her limbs ached so much it was almost impossible to move, yet she still had training with Theseus. She forced herself up and called for her handmaiden. The woman rushed in and began to help her out of the old dress and into a new one, huffing about how hard it would be to clean it. Piper didn't care about that, she was too focused on actually getting her legs to walk her to the training room.

It took a painfully long time for Piper to get to the room, and when she entered she already heard the sound of a sword hitting a sword. She saw Percy trying to get through Theseus' guard, he had probably been at it for a while since sweat was pooling at his brow whilst Theseus looked as calm as ever, not even breaking a sweat as he fended off all attacks.

She thought Percy looked incredibly handsome with his black hair in a mess and his brow furrowed in concentration- Piper blushed the second she thought this. Percy was an excellent swordsman- it didn't take much to see that, but he was still losing. She saw that his full concentration went to controlling his body, a single slip-up would cost him the duel and grant him a new bruise.

Percy lunged out- stabbing towards Theseus. The man just side-stepped in what seemed to be in the last moment, almost as if he hadn't anticipated. She almost thought that Percy managed to break the iron guard of Theseus- but soon Percy was on the floor with a big bruise forming just above his right eyebrow.

"Don't let shock paralyze you!" Theseus said with a mocking tone. "I let you through so that this would happen."

"Everyone can't be the best all the time," Percy retorted before he picked up a clearly old pack of ice- water was already dripping from it and Piper concluded from the size of the puddle underneath the bench that it had been there for a while.

Theseus turned to her. "Welcome Piper, I see that you managed to make it here, _late_. For this lesson I want you to complete the obstacle course. You will not be allowed to leave this room until you've finished."

When she didn't move he said, "Go on, the faster you're done the faster we'll get to the fun stuff."

She still didn't move. "Is it possible?" she asked. "Is it possible to complete it under a minute? Or are you just using this as a way to teach me a lesson? Do I have to ask a specific question to get the answer? Do I hav–"

He interrupted her by saying, "I've already told you the answer, now get on with it!" Then he turned to Percy and raised his blade, suggesting that he was ready.

Piper groaned inwardly, she felt like this was going to be a long day. 

* * *

When it was dusk Piper still hadn't completed the course. The fact that she hadn't eaten at all didn't help with her mood. She felt slow and numb and her stomach was screaming. With every move it screamed. Food, food, food. She was going crazy from hunger, lack of rests and physical pain.

She had tried to go through everything Theseus had said to her- trying to find the clue of how to beat the cursed jungle of objects that stood between her and her bed. Percy had long since stopped his training session and started to give her tips on how to be faster. "Swing faster there." "Jump a little earlier." "Duck!"

She almost felt like ordering the guards to drown him in a barrel of water. All the things were going to her head so she just decided to give up- when the clock started she walked the two metres between point A and point B and flopped down on the ground.

A slow clap resonated through the room. _Clap, clap, clap._ Wait what? Theseus was applauding?

"Congratulations Piper! Tomorrow we begin practicing with the sword," Theseus said before turning and walking towards the door. Piper was dumbfounded. That was seriously the correct way to do it? She had spent many _hours_ trying to figure out how she could finish it and after all her hard work and hours spent trying to force her body through.

"But what was it all for? Why did I have to go through all this?" She asked, almost screamed.

"I told you the very basic principle I will teach you by when we first met. You are not going to be taught normally- you will take shortcuts and learn how to cheat. Just because you are an _oh_ so righteous princess doesn't mean you'll not learn how to use whatever chances you are given."

Piper tried to object but Percy was quicker, "You did all of this just so that she would learn to look for whatever shortcuts she can use?!" He was angry, his face red and his sea-green eyes seemed to glow with energy.

"Now now, not defending are we? You do know she's only fourteen, right? And for you- I recommend you think about what you do before you judge others, _boy_ –" he made sure that the precise meaning of the word was clear, they weren't anything compared to him. "–I've heard about what you did towards that girl. You should probably go to her and ask for forgiveness before you come back here. Both of you would need to dump that nonchalant arrogance that all of you royal children possess, it doesn't suit you. Now go both of you before I get angry!"

The only thing that suggested that he was having a hard time controlling himself was that his eyes were churning like the sea during a storm, glowing with energy. Piper and Percy scrambled to get out of there, not wanting to anger Theseus further.

When walking towards her chambers she wondered why he had gotten so angry, it seemed unprovoked and a bit unnecessary to her. Had she done anything wrong? Once she got inside her maid rushed to help her out of the dress. The girl seemed disconnected and not as fast as she used to be. She had an expression of fear on her face and fumbled when she tried to unfasten the tightly laced dress.

"Come on then, get me out of this dress!" Piper screamed at her. The maid jumped and finished it quickly before backing off.

"Now help me into the new one!"

The girl was now frightened of Piper, her face was pale and she tried to avoid contact, physical and eye-to-eye. Piper dismissed her with an arrogant nod. She was the princess and sole heir to her kingdom's throne! She was not to be played with to the extent that Theseus had done it! She wasn't going to take humiliation at that level- she was going to speak to her father about it. He accepted every wish she made and firing a lower class swords teacher wasn't going to be hard for her to get him to do.

Piper had already decided not to go to bed. She was far too angry to do it so instead she sat down at her piano. As most other royal daughters she had been given a proper education in the art of music- she could sing and play the piano and dance. Her teachers had always said that she was a protegee in all three and she tried to practice as often as she could. The piano had always calmed her down, as the name of the instrument implied, she felt soft whilst hitting the keys. The sounds could vary and all she had to do was to increase pressure in her fingers.

She played through the songs she had most recently bought, from a musical that she had seen with her father and rather enjoyed. The most stunning piece was at the ending, she had played it over and over yet she still couldn't make it sound right. There was something missing from it.

"I see, you've also seen that opera. I've had people search for a long time trying to find someone who could play it like it was- none have been able to find the musicians. It's like they've disappeared off the face of the planet since their last performance in Olympia." She turned her head and saw Percy leaning against a wall. "Do you know what the title, _Nordens Song_ means?"

It was a rhetorical question, the answer was of course not. All of the pieces of the play had been named in a language other than the common tongue, all she knew was that it wasn't the older tongue- latin. The language had been spoken long before in what was known as the Great Empire. Now it was mostly dead with only a handful of scholars knowing how to speak it. The musical hadn't been written in the old language and neither in the common tongue and there was no one in the kingdoms who seemed to know the translations. _Perhaps it was just written in a made-up language?_ she had thought to herself many times, and though she had tried to break the code she hadn't been able to.

Only a single song's title had been in a language she knew, it was called _Dear friend_ and was the last piece, right after the mysterious song that many thought to be the best piece they'd ever hear. _Dear friend_ was a sort of looking back for the main character- he is reliving the greatest moments he had with his friend before letting go in the end and walking off the stage, a shadow symbolising death helping the old man. It was a powerful piece- she'd have to give it that, it was just not as good as the mysterious _Nordens Song_.

"The name deepens it right? Makes the piece mysterious and fascinating. I also love how it is connected to the last song. The transition is amazing, right? I mean in slowly fades and increases the volume of _Dear friend_ until you can't hear what song is what. I would love to give the writer of it all a place as royal musician of Atlantis." Percy was excited like a little boy opening presents. "I pray to Apollo that the composer will show himself soon, so the world can bathe in his glory."

Piper had done exactly the same thing, praying to the gods for help in this matter. She wanted to get the composer as a teacher.

Suddenly Piper realised something, "Percy, what are you doing in my room? In the middle of the night?"

Percy's face went a bit red as he blushed when he realised that he was standing in her chambers.

"I-you-um. I was-going to this place, you know," he said rubbing the back of his head. "I was intrigued when your teacher shared his thoughts on us- you know when he told me to swallow my pride and spend some time in the story-houses? Well I did that. I went out and to be honest, the stories they tell are worth it. I would give my crown to know all of them. I was actually going to visit one now when I heard you playing. So right now I will excuse myself and go learn some stories."

He backed out of the door and into the corridor, turning away with a quick bow and a ' _My lady'_ that got Piper blushing. When she heard his footsteps down the hall Piper let out a nervous breath. She understood what he meant by interesting, the history lectures she had gotten all seemed ridiculously made up to fit the view of the world that Olympus proclaimed. How the gods doomed the Othryan empire by sending the kingdoms against it.

She ran out the door in a quick surge of courage. She was probably going to regret the decision later, but she just wanted to follow Percy and learn a thing or two about how her people thought about her. Little did she know how right she would be!

* * *

She caught up to him when he'd just gotten to the door of the palace. She had been running far more than she would've liked. Her dress was out of its otherwise neat bun and her dress was sticking to her skin. She was panting hard and felt extremely out of shape.

"Percy—wait up!" she shouted. He turned around and studied her as she ran up beside him. "Can I follow you?"

He must've known before he said it that she would be curious enough to follow him, since he said, "Curiosity is a strange thing, but I think acting without safety suits you. It is very non-princess like. Almost like swordplay. . ."

He extended his arm for her to take and she took it. Then they walked silently into the city of Rome.

* * *

They reached the story-house after about half an hour of walking. Piper was mostly walking around looking at the city that seemed more beautiful at night than it did during the day, lights were everywhere. As they reached the small establishment she couldn't help but feel the city pulsating around her, almost as if the earth was alive around them. The house almost seemed to be the centre of the night due to the thick amount of people leaning towards it, trying to hear stories.

When they got inside Piper was surprised at how clean it was, she had always thought taverns like this to be filthy and packed with harlots and the rest of the city filth, but the room was neat and tidy. The room was a half-circle, in the middle of the wall there was a fireplace that was burning. In front of it sat an old man who appeared to be the storyteller, around him were rows of wooden benches. Towards the corners and along the sides of the room were tables and the bar was located towards the entrance. Percy guided her over to a table close to the bar and gestured for her to sit down.

"Beckendorf!" he called and a burly man Piper guessed must've been Beckendorf came up to them. He looked strong, his arms were thicker than even the strongest guard's. His wasn't handsome in her mind but she guessed he had a winning personality.

He leaned over the bar and said, "You brought a girl with you this time Percy." His accent was thick- Piper had to concentrate to understand what he was saying

Piper couldn't help but say, "This _girl_ has a name you know, it is Piper"

"Feisty, eh? And you are _that_ Piper, Percy has been talking a lot 'bout you." Then with a falsetto mimic of Percy's voice he said, "She isn't like the rest of them, she is more concerned with her surroundings- she even started practicing with the sword, what lady does that?"

Piper looked over at Percy who had his face planted firmly down into the table, a deep blush was visible on his face.

"Come on Beckendorf," he groaned. "Just bring us something to drink that is not too strong."

Beckendorf was laughing as he walked away to fetch them their drinks. He returned moments later with two big mugs filled with some brown liquid.

"Here, this'll be good for ya"

When Beckendorf had left Percy said, "We met two days ago when I first came here, we talked and then we became friends. He doesn't know about any of our titles." Then he went silent and turned his attention to the old man in the centre of the room.

"–and so the once mighty empire fell. This is where my story begins–" his voice was raspy and he coughed but Piper let herself sink into the story. . .

* * *

" _. . .In the beginning of time, a shard was created. The shard held the power of the gods and whoever held the shard would become most powerful person in existence. To the person who found it it didn't seem like much- a flat, glowing rock. But later it became know as the symbol of power in the greatest civilization of all. The tribe that the man belonged to soon grew to become the best, they used magic in all its forms to bend the elements to their will and they forged an empire. The shard seemed to be able to do only good things and the empire soon spread, conquering tribe after tribe until they controlled almost all of the known world._

 _When it became known what the shard could do it was forged into a mirror, the Mirror of Dawn. The mirror was the royal regalia of the empire and the royal family used all of its powers for the good. Then another force came into the world, evil. The darkness that was bound to always chase the light was born in the minds of the people who sought after the shard. To them the light was nothing but deceitful and they built themselves a stronghold underneath the royal city. From its core the darkness started growing, finding ways to manipulate mortals and gods alike until a war broke out, tearing the nation apart._

 _The war spanned five generations, heroes unlike those we ever hear of today were born and died before the conflict was finally settled. The gods themselves came into the world to bring peace, but they only brought the night. Before the night had been nonexistent, but now the mortals were left to stumble around blindly in desperate attempts to survive. The most successful attempt was to reforge the Mirror of Dawn to the Mirror Twilight. The new symbol was used to lock day and night in an eternal struggle for dominance, equally strong both sides shared human life. The Mirror lost most of its power as it forced the raw elements into submission. As the Mirror's power diminished, the fabric of the world weakened._

 _Despite this, a new civilization was built on the ruins of the old one. The new was the old alike, wonders built with magic and strong rulers. But just as the old empire fell, the new one didn't stand the test of time. Eventually rebels who sought the power of the Mirror attacked the royal palace, and in the chaos of the battle the Mirror disappeared. It is said that it was split amongst four noble knights who were given the quest to protect their pieces with their lives. The knights travelled to the outermost corners of the once mighty empire. In the corners of the world they waited. . ."_

* * *

". . .With the Mirror gone the rebels couldn't create a kingdom even close to the Empire. But what they founded was great. Greater than all we have today. It is what we call the Great Empire, our predecessors and what came before Othrys."

"THAT IS HERESY!" a female voice interrupted. Piper, like many other listeners, scanned the room to find the mysterious woman. It was a short girl, nothing more than fifteen years, who was standing up with a bow in one hand. Her arrow was notched and pointed towards the old man.

A few young men tried to stop her from firing but she released her arrow as soon as she saw them move. The old storyteller took the arrow in the heart with his arms outstretched in a saint-like position. The suddenly a bunch of other, silver clad girls appeared around the first one- guarding her from harm.

Piper heard someone whisper, "They're the hunters of Diana, sent out by the gods." Piper recognised the name from her religion class- the hunters of Diana were said to be the goddess' handmaidens and companions, they followed her around and hunted her prey. Many innocent men had fallen to them since the goddess hated all of the male population.

People weren't sure how to react around them for a second, until someone threw a knife that hit the leader square in the chest. Chaos broke loose all around them in a full scale bar fight. The girl who had shot the arrow was lying on her back, her friends standing around her trying to protect her so that she could get some cover. The girl was bleeding profoundly from the wound over her heart where the knife was buried.

The moment the first knife was thrown Percy pushed her down on the floor, throwing himself over her to protect her using his body. Mugs and furniture was now flying towards the centre of the room where the hunters held their ground. They were remarkably quick as they dodged and shot with precision. The sound in the room was paralyzing for Piper, people were screaming in anger, in pain, the sound of chairs hitting the small girls.

Percy led her towards the door, his back turned towards the action of the fight as they pushed themselves out. On the way out Piper spotted two old men setting a table of chess. One of them turned his head and watched her with eyes that were old, they showed wisdom and experience unlike that of which Piper had ever seen.

"The pieces are in place," he said. Piper flinched, the man was over 20 feet away from her and it was so loud in the room that she could barely hear her own thoughts, yet still she could hear him as if he had spoke directly into her ear. The man seemed to radiate an ominous feeling that Piper still remembered as Percy dragged her through the door. All the way to the palace she heard those words repeating in her head. "The pieces are in place, _the pieces are in place_ , **the pieces are in place**."

* * *

Percy seemed to have decided to follow her to her room, claiming that it wasn't safe to walk around in the palace alone at the late hour. Something was distracting him, probably about the fight- he hadn't even talked about it, it was scaring her that it had happened and that it happened in such a way.

They turned around a corner and suddenly they heard music emanating from a room. It was almost like magic- the way the notes floated together, simple yet majestic. Then the musician started singing and Piper recognised the song: _Nordens Song,_ the mysterious masterpiece. Percy also seemed to have heard it as he moved to be able to hear better.

Piper swore that it was better than the original musical, it was simpler with only the piano playing. When the song finished there was a silence and then the last performance of the musical started- _Dear friend_. The song hit Piper like a punch in the stomach, after just a couple of measures and a line of song she was crying and she could see that Percy was obviously fighting back his emotions. She heard the singer singing about his life, probably in character as the main part of the play, crying as he looked back at all the things he did and should've done with his friends and family while they were still alive.

She noticed someone standing and peeking through the door opening. This someone was a girl, in her nightgown with her curly, blonde hair falling over her shoulders. In the light of the room she recognised this someone as Annabeth, then she saw someone else coming up from behind Annabeth, his face was hidden, but his focus seemed to be on Annabeth's back. Piper followed his gaze and saw something she didn't expect to see on a lady, tattoos covered all of Annabeth's backside. It was beautiful, shaped like a butterfly with its wings spread.

As Piper watched a purple light pulsed through the figure and she came to a horrifying conclusion. . .


	5. Familiar

**All rights belong to Rick Riordan.**

 **Map used is a modified European map, link is on my profile.**

 **Kingdoms:**

 **Olympia:**

 **\- Capital: Olympus**

 **\- Ruler: King Zeus II (43)**

 **\- Royal consort: Queen Beryl (35)**

 **\- Heir: Crown Prince Jason (17)**

 **-Other royal children: Princess Thalia (23)**

 **-Additional Information:**

 **-Totalitarian monarchy**

 **-Strongest military**

 **Ogygia:**

 **\- Capital: York**

 **\- Ruler: King Atlas I (49)**

 **\- Heir: Crown Princess Calypso (16)**

 **\- Exports: Fish, coal**

 **\- Additional Information:**

 **-Isolated and peaceful**

 **Hades:**

 **\- Capital: Alicante**

 **\- Ruler: King Hades (50)**

 **\- Royal consort: Queen Persephone (45)**

 **\- Heir: Crown Princess Bianca (20)**

 **\- Other royal children: Prince Nicholas(18)**

 **\- Exports: Wheat, gold, wine, fruits**

 **\- Additional Information:**

 **-Freedom for the people, elected laws.**

 **-King with little to no power.**

 **-Wealthy.**

 **Celestia:**

 **\- Capital: Berlin**

 **\- Ruler: King Charles Dare III (45)**

 **\- Heir: Crown Princess Rachel Elizabeth (16)**

 **\- Exports: Iron, copper, tin, bronze**

 **\- Additional information:**

 **-Totalitarian monarchy.**

 **-Celestial bronze said to be the strongest and sharpest metal.**

 **Elysium:**

 **\- Capital: Rome**

 **\- Ruler: King Tristan I (30)**

 **\- Royal consort: Queen Aphrodite (35)**

 **\- Heir: Crown Princess Piper (15)**

 **\- Additional Information:**

 **-Home of the Lotus Casino**

 **-Semester paradise**

 **Atlantis:**

 **\- Capital: Atlantis**

 **\- Ruler: King Poseidon III (50)**

 **\- Royal consort: Queen Sally (48)**

 **\- Heir: Crown Prince Perseus (24)**

 **\- Other royal children: Princess Andromeda (13)**

 **\- Exports: Fish, pearls, salt, dyes, copper, gold**

 **\- Additional Information:**

 **-Controls almost all trade over sea**

 **-Royal family frequently fraternizing with the common people**

 **-Princess Andromeda is regarded as "highly unstable", no one allowed access.**

 **Just a quick reminder of what the kingdoms are and who are ruling which kingdom. There are other territories like the North, South and Othrys but they will become more important later. Luke is not a royal, he is a count(high level noble) his family governing the small strip in the kingdom of Olympia that is the between Hades, Celestia and Elysium.**

* * *

 _Piper_

. . . Annabeth was a monster! A demon in the shape of a human! She had used her heretic power to influence Lukas into choosing her to be his champion and to win the tournament so far. Hatred sparked inside Piper, the music didn't help to calm her emotions as she grabbed for the object closest to her- a vase of flowers. She hurled the container towards the unsuspecting girl who turned around in the last second, only to be struck in the face and fall to the ground motionless. The man who had been creeping up behind her looked up and met eyes with Piper. When she saw Chiron's face she felt calm, the old man always had a relaxing feel. She saw him pick up the limp body and await orders.

"Take her to the pole," Piper said coldly. She was going to be the queen and she had to be able to make decision, sentencing this horror of nature wasn't going to be hard. "50 lashes!"

Chiron looked horrified and maybe he was right, she thought. Would Annabeth be able to survive that many? But she still deserved it, her kind were even more barbarians than the standard northerners. They feasted on humans, they bent the minds of mortals to their will. Piper should've sent her to the mines in Olympia, but she felt that her father needed to know before she made any decisions. The 'Thing' was to be grateful that Piper was tired and didn't feel like killing her.

The fight at the bar was completely forgotten as she stomped away to her room. In the morning she was going to watch how well the barbarian had made it through the night. Thoughts about the eerily beautiful music was put aside.

* * *

 _Percy_

Percy decided not to follow Piper as she walked away, she was far too angry to be reasoned with. He was trying to figure out what he'd just seen. Annabeth's back glowing through the fabric of her nightgown and Piper sentencing the girl to fifty lashes. Fifty! She had just survived a year of rape and beatings in the mines and now she was going to get fifty more! How was he supposed to apologize to her for his behaviour against her when she vomited on his shoes? She would never trust any of their kind again. He also didn't think that she was quite as bad as most people thought, she had just been born in the wrong place at the wrong time, people couldn't go against their raising and the values that had been beaten into them from birth. Annabeth's parents probably raised her to be a cold-blooded killer but she couldn't be guilty for that. Her culture said that she had to be savage, so she was.

He shook his head to get the thoughts out. He was tired and needed sleep. Leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow, he thought as he stumbled back to his room.

 _ **Line Break**_

 _Annabeth_

Her head throbbed. It was all she could think of. She tried to move but realised that both of her hands were stuck above her head, tied to a pole. Years of practice got her brain going at an instant. Her mentor had been thoroughly making sure that she could get out of any bonds, even if it forced her to push her shoulder out of its socket. The recovery from those types of sessions had been the most painful since her mentor decided never to let her rest more than a day or two. If she could think she could fight. She temptatively tried to wriggle her arms free from their position but discovered something else: her back felt sore. It wasn't the kind of sore that you got from a day of intense exercise but rather that of a severe beating. Then it dawned on her, she was tied to a pole, in the perfect position to be whipped. She vaguely remembered someone throwing something at her whilst screaming, and then nothing. Had this person discovered her runes?

Then Annabeth's mind froze to ice, she would be sent back to the mines! Tears started running down her cheeks. Memories of beatings, death, sickness and rape completely locked her in her feelings. They'd sent her there! And now she was going to be sent back! There had been a few people who survived the mines one time, but people who got sent back never made it.

In the moment of silence that followed the tears she felt something dark press against her mind. But unlike other kinds of mental attacks this one didn't press from outside her defence walls, it came from inside.

" _Listen to me! Trust me! Trust your mentor! Remember what he would've said!"_ It was nothing more than a whisper, but it still promised her a way out of the situation.

" _Unchain me!"_ She realised what it was- the part of her mind that her mentor always encouraged her to use, the part of a person's mind that doesn't care about other people. It was golden for an assassin such as herself to be able to use it to feel no empathy and no guilt after a kill. Even being able to use it for short periods of time formed a clear gap between the good assassins and the mediocre ones.

Twice she had let it completely control her: the first time was the day she woke up in her parent's bed and they'd been murdered. Afterwards it hadn't frightened her that she killed men that day, it still didn't. She didn't feel any empathy for them, not even when her mentor forced her to meet their families and confess what she had done.

" _Do you still not feel any remorse?"_ he had asked her afterwards.

She had answered, "No," and that seemed to be the turning point in her training. She was no longer just a normal girl training with the master assassin of the world.

The second time she ever lost control completely was in the mines, her friend had been raped and murdered right before her and she had seen red. The guards didn't stand a chance against her wrath as over 300 of them fell before they managed to knock her out. She hadn't even been able to use her ability properly since it was partially blocked by the lack of magic that surrounded her. She had been punished by the most terrifying experience of her life: the black cell.

It was nothing more than a hole in the ground, reinforced with copper, where uncooperative and highly dangerous slaves were sent to learn submission. The horror of it came when the "door" was shut, a large metal hatch was placed on top, blocking out all contact with the outside world. The second the lid was closed the cell became pitch black, even after a while she was unable to see anything. She had heard stories that it was cold in the cell, but she was born with cold, molded by it. She didn't feel it like others. The thing about the black cell was that it broke your mind: being confined in a box with no perception of time; no food and none to talk to besides from yourself made you slowly go insane. She survived it by repeating her name over and over. _I am Annabeth Chase. I am Annabeth Chase. I am Annabeth Chase. I am Annabeth Chase._

When re-entering the world she was a wreck; she talked about herself in third person; she barely noticed other people; she followed every order she was given and she had what she could only classify as nyctophobia and umbraphobia. The fear of darkness and shadows respectively.

" _What have they done for you?"_ the cloud in her mind asked. It made a good point, what had the kingdoms done for her? Why shouldn't she hate them? They'd killed her parents, her village, tortured her time and time again.

At that instant she knew she gave in too much, the seed was planted and it was spreading its roots naturally. As it grew she felt her world succumb in darkness. . .

* * *

She woke up, unlike the time before she didn't feel tired or sore, she felt nothing. Her mind instantly registered that it was just before sunrise meaning that no one would be awake to see her, yet.

A part of her mind wondered if more people in the kingdoms would react like the princess had done if they found out. The answer was probably yes, the king of Olympia had made sure of that when he denounced their, her, religion.

Wriggling out of a simple bond was easy, she had done it countless of times in much more painful ways and with her mind clouded by many different feelings. The only time she'd failed was the first day in the mines when her brain had panicked too much. Now however her mind was at its sharpest, it took only ten seconds for her to get free, ten more to get the blood flowing back in her wrists.

After the initial pain of being able to move again subsided she started to stretch her limbs. She would need all her agility for the escape she planned. Luckily for her the princess had been stupid enough to tie her up in the palace square, and not in a more high security cell or prison. _Bad choice my friend, bad choice_ she thought to herself. It was going to come back and bite Piper in more ways than she could imagine.

When she was done with the stretching she began to explore her mind as she walked towards the palace door. It wasn't locked so she entered. The great space of the corridor leading up to the throne room was open in front of her and she couldn't resist the urge to calculate the time it would take for a human being to run the hallway down. She concluded it would take about a minute, any person who had to fight his way through this would never succeed since guards could pour in from all sides. The guards office was located just to her right and along the corridor there were at least twenty rooms from which guards could jump an ambusher.

It was to the guards room she was heading. She was planning on getting a knife and easily enough no one was awake to see her take it. Her mind disregarded the possibility that someone was letting her go in the room since it was too easy since she saw guards sleeping at their posts. The commander himself seemed to be snoring on top a pile of reports. ' _Loyal to his king at all times, I see'_ she thought. ' _Content of protecting him at all costs'_

The key to the weapons locker was in the commander's keychain so it was easily obtainable. She unlocked the room and quickly snatched a knife off one of the many shelves with rows of bows, swords and other goods.

Out into the corridor again, running towards the east wing. It was reserved for the ruling family and visiting royals, thus Lukas was not noble enough to get a room there.

She turned the corner that lead into the part of the palace and heard a noise, music. Beautiful piano tunes were flowing out from one room but she decided that this time she wasn't going to lose track of herself and get spotted that easily. Hurrying past the room she thought the breathtaking sounds originated from she entered the east wing of the palace. It seemed to her that the very second she walked through the door that lead to the wing the music stopped at an eerie tone. Like it knew she was up to something. Then another song began, the bass line seemed to be in synchronization with her heartbeat. ' _How weird!'_ she thought.

As she began walking again the music started speeding up, trudging through the labyrinth that was the castle she could feel it at every inch of her body. How did music have that effect on her? And how did she hear it everywhere? Her senses had always been good, but it was impossible for a normal person to hear a single piano from so far away, right?

' _Stop it!'_ her mind screamed at her. ' _Do not let yourself become distracted again! You've already been compromised and now you have to finish the job.'_ She knew it was right. As far as she knew only one person knew what she was, and that was the princess. Getting her out of the way would be easy, after ridding her she could win the competition and then be free to do as she wished. If only her master had realised that she wouldn't follow him when she left for the kingdoms. You can't expect someone with a personal vendetta against an entire continent to forgive it easily, not if you're sending them to said continent. And if they are giving loose reins that they might take control of themselves you are stupid for not realising that they would do it. Her master had become senile, odd for a man that always had been described as the most clever person in existence, calculating his plans down to the smallest twitch of a body. She had been lucky to be trained by the best, but as all talented students she became greater than the master. No one feared the Shadow anymore, but everyone in the kingdoms knew of Zoë Nightshade, the legendary assassin of the North.

The door to the princess' chambers was right in front of her. She took out her knife and suddenly became aware of all her movements, her brain started its predator mode that she'd always used during her missions. _'This will be a piece of cake'_ she thought.

"You shouldn't be tempting fate," a voice said from behind her. She reacted on instinct and hurled one of her knives in the direction of the person, satisfied with the fact that the person didn't even have time to contemplate their fate.

"You really expect that to work?" the voice asked, amused. Annabeth was shocked: How could anyone survive a knife to the throat? She turned around slowly, balling her fists at her side. The person who was addressing her was a man, perhaps thirty years old. He had brown hair and the most mesmerizing eyes she had ever seen, they were ocean-blue and seemed to be endless pools of knowledge and calm. He was lean but she knew from experience that that didn't mean anything- the strongest people were never the bulky ones. They didn't gain their strength from lifting heavy weights once or twice every day, but from going days on just lifting. Her mentor had been impossibly strong, even if she managed to deflect one of his blows the pain almost knocked her breath away.

She went over the man's appearance again and tried to find where her knife would be stuck, her calculations and predictions told her that it would be stuck somewhere in height with his throat or perhaps right over his heart, it was what she had practiced day in and day out. Many trained throwing knifes at still target whilst being still but her mentor knew that it wasn't beneficial. Hitting something that was moving while you were moving was different from hitting a static target. He had forced her to stand with her back to a moving target and when a bell sounded behind it she would turn at a split-second and throw. If she didn't hit she had to redo it ten times. For each miss ten new times and for each consecutive hit she had to do it again. When she managed to hit 100 times dead on in the target's heart she moved on to running and throwing at moving targets. It was harder than it seemed but like everything else she mastered it quickly. She had always wondered whether or not her strange ability also enhanced her mind to the point where normal people couldn't keep up: she always had an answer; she had plans for almost all situations; she could calculate extreme numbers in her head; she was an extremely fast learner. Once she asked her mentor about it and he told her that he shared her thoughts on it, then he made her exercises more challenging.

Now the man wasn't hit and she was confused as to why he wasn't bleeding out on the floor.

"Looking for this?" He fingered her knife, held by the blade in his right hand. He made a big point of showing it to her before saying, "Impressive I must say, but not worthy enough to kill the little princess."

"How do you know that?!" Annabeth snapped at him. This earned her an amused look from the man.

"I know many things."

This didn't answer her question but she felt that prying wouldn't give her the answer she sought after. It also had the chance of angering him and a person who could dodge a knife throw wasn't to be messed with. She kept her eyes on the man as she rotated to see if he would give her an angle from which she could attack, but he continued to stare at her- not moving himself apart from his eyes. She was lucky that he was standing in the middle of the hallway since this meant that she could get behind him.

Slowly edging her way behind the man she kept her eyes locked in level with his neck since most of his movements would be readable in the tension of his neck. To her surprise he didn't turn to face her. ' _Bold move,'_ she thought. It was going to cost him the exchange that was about to happen.

She seized her chance when she was a 100° angle behind his left side. She had already noted that he used his right hand when holding her knife, hinting at what side was dominant. Jumping at him from behind she aimed a kick at his exposed neck. Then she saw his reflection in the mirror in front of him, the mirror she hadn't spotted. The corners of his mouth were turned upwards in a triumphant smirk. He had seen her every move, now it was just a matter of reactions- could he possibly move fast enough?

It turned out he could, as his entire upper body bent forward so that she sailed over him. She landed and threw a quick punch at his neck. He easily deflected it, still bent forward, with his lower arm. Then he spun around and planted a roundhouse kick straight to her stomach, sending her flying into the wall. The force of the kick was enough to make black spots dance all over her field of vision. She desperately tried to regain control of her movements and not become an easy target. As she had previously anticipated he was stronger than he looked. Granted she didn't weigh much from the beginning, especially not since she came out of the mines, but she was still sent flying by one kick.

He watched with the same smirk as he had had before as she struggled to her feet.

"Losing your footing this early? Didn't your teacher ever warn you about that?"

She gritted her teeth and exploded towards him in a flurry of kicks and punches. He managed to block almost all of them and also get a few punches in on her. When his fist connected with her chest the last time she managed to land a punch on his bicep. She felt the muscle working beneath his skin, the extreme amount of raw power he could use against her, but also that it wasn't strained fully. If she would guess she would say that he could double the force he put in his punches if he wanted to. But he was holding back for an unknown reason.

She knew now to back away from him and did just that, but he followed her. An animal trapped in a corner becomes vigilant and does desperate things,

As with the kick each jab he got in on her forced her breath out of her mouth in quick exhales that almost stopped her breathing. She tried to back of but he was forcing her towards a corner. The door to the princess' chambers grew further and further away. He was driving her in front of him, out of the corridor and towards the parts of the palace where the less noble nobles lived.

"Stop fighting back when you know that it is fruitless. You will never win over me."

"H–h–ow c–an you be s–so s–t–t–strong and fast? You shouldn't beat me, I'm the best," she said between coughs as she took in much needed air.

"You would do well to swallow that pride of yours, you're never the best until everyone else is dead. That is the first time you can call yourself the best at anything. As for the princess- you will never talk about how you tried to assassinate her, and you will never try to again, understood? I will make sure that memory of your power is wiped away from this castle."

With that he tensed and launched a series of strikes that were almost too quick for her to register. She had no time to dodge and as they connected she felt her mind slowly leaving her body. The world started to fade. He had turned and started to walk away from her when he seemed to notice something. Then she saw it, a face quickly hiding behind a corner. As her vision turned black she saw the man make a movement with his left hand. Over the back of it was a shining rune. Her last thoughts were of the sight before her, as the man vanished from the corridor. . .


	6. Chill

. . .Waking up the first day after being mauled in the corridor was not pleasant for Annabeth. Her entire body hurt, especially her chest. She suspected that more than a few ribs were broken. Her mind constantly wandered to the man in the corridor: Who was he? How did he know what she was about to do? How would he remove the memory of her runes from the palace? And most importantly how he was able to vanish from the corridor.

She had thought hard about the last question for the day she had been forced to stay in her bed by Chariclo. The more she thought about it the more details she could remember. Like how his hand seemed to have been glowing with a strange pink colour.

Another strange thing she heard of was that she wasn't the only person to have been found beaten black and blue in the corridor during the morning. Princess Bianca's champion, a girl named Reyna, a been found not far away from where Annabeth was. The girl was passed out and just like Annabeth she had bruises all over her body, most prominently on her face. Annabeth was sympathetic for her biggest rival since the girl had been quite pretty before and from what she had heard Reyna was no longer as pretty.

Despite the fact that two people had been found beaten up the competition still continued onwards, the day after they had been found they were forced to complete yet another trial- this one with poisons.

Annabeth had limped into the room clutching her side and waiting for instructions. She hadn't been the first there but she wasn't late. The only person in the room was a boy who was the champion of princess Calypso, who had arrived about a week before. The boy's name was Leo, he was a short impish kid who wasn't the best at anything. It wasn't that he was bad, he just seemed mediocre compared to some of the other champions like Reyna or Annabeth. He had scored close to last in all of the trials yet still he was in the competition.

She watched as his hands twitched like he was extremely nervous or he was used to always do something with them. They were calloused and rough like the hands of a person who had worked much. She stared down at her own and sighed. These hands were capable of murder. They had done it many times before and would continue to do it many times again. They were the hands that had squeezed the life out of countless of people, they had held the knives that slit the throats of many. Looking closer at them she saw the tiny marks on her knuckles that she got for punching a guards teeth out. She also noticed the big white scar that ran across her entire right hand. She had gotten it when her mentor had decided that she wasn't skilled enough with her left hand. So he'd given her a choice: Either she broke her hand by the next day, or he'd do it for her. The decision hadn't been hard to make, the very hour she got to her room she had placed her hand in the door to the corridor and slammed the solid oak shut.

"That's an interesting set of scars you got there, ma'am. How'd you get those? Punching someone to death and catching his sword at the same time?"

She could tell he was nervous, and he should be. He had seen her win the archery competition and the climbing one. Plus he had also seen her practice her swordsmanship in the arena. Of course he hadn't seen her practice since Chiron deemed her progress good, forcing them to spar behind closed doors so word of her excellent skills wouldn't spread through the palace. Instead of watching her the nobles of the palace talked about Reyna, the champion of princess Bianca and Annabeth's biggest rival. The girl was skilled, there was no arguing about that, but she still hadn't trained to become the best since she was 7. For Annabeth it had been a relief to be able to train alone and not be disturbed and she showed excellent progress now beating Chiron 7 out of 10 times.

"Come on sunshine, don't give me the silent treatment. Tell me if the guy got what he deserved. I bet he cheated on you, didn't h–" The rest of the sentence was cut off when Annabeth quickly stood up scaring the piss out of the kid.

"Listen imp, I don't like people who dig about in my past, last guy who went too deep was soon six feet deeper than he would've wanted. Now go change your pants and leave me alone!" She didn't know from where she got the anger, but it felt good to scream at someone. The dark part of her mind wanted her to kick his arse but the reasonable half didn't want to get thrown out of the competition. The kid decided that it wasn't worth it to anger her and promptly backed off.

For the rest of the wait he didn't disturb her verbally, but other sounds he made were really starting to bug her. His hands seemed to have gotten ahold of something metal, she suspected it was a clock, and he was twitching with it. She felt like going over to him and ripping the thing from his hands but was stopped when the other champions entered the room.

First was the big bulky and burly warrior who was called Clarisse. She was the champion of prince Jason and it seemed fitting: Olympia had the biggest army and the best trained troops and the girl was as well trained as you could get with a good teacher. Of course she didn't have the best teacher like Annabeth had but it was still a start. Clarisse wasn't really quiet about what she thought of herself, she always made sure that a small crowd was watching her exercise and practice. Her muscles were extremely well developed, she was probably the strongest woman Annabeth had met. Her hair was mousy-brown and choppy. She was huge, taller than any girl she had ever met before but that was about all she had going for her. The girl was ugly, her face was powerful like that of a soldier, not exactly making her look nicer, her huge size would be scaring away many suitors and her angry attitude would scare the rest of them away.

The second one to enter was Reyna, Annabeth's biggest rival in the competition. She was shorter than Clarisse yet taller than Annabeth (which didn't say much). She had glossy black hair braided, just like Annabeth's, in a single braid that laid over her shoulder. She had olive skin that glowed when she walked through the beams of sunlight that came through the windows. Reyna was by far prettier than Clarisse, yet there was still something about her that made Annabeth doubt that the girl was interested in men. She just didn't look at them the same way as many other girls did. Annabeth held nothing against her for her sexuality but she knew what Clarisse would do if she found out. Clarisse was almost the embodiment of what Olympia stood for, so she would certainly live up to her kingdom's beliefs even on that part.

The other champions that followed Reyna weren't as important, they were barely a threat so her mind discarded the information about them almost instantly.

As soon as all champions were present and the bell signifying that a trial started had ringed everyone was assigned to a table by a servant. On the table was seven goblets filled with different looking liquids.

Once everyone had traded confused looks for a while a fat man entered. He said,

"Champions! Welcome to your sixth trial, poisons. The task is to organise the goblets in front of you left to right with most potent to least potent respectively. When you have finished you're going to drink the one you deem the safest."

The reactions from the other champions was priceless. No one seemed to have expected this test, and why would they? None of them had known of the different trials before they had been announced. They all came prepared to the teeth with weapon skills. She felt a tinge of satisfaction when she realised that she was the only one who had any sort of knowledge of poisons. _This is going to be a piece of cake!_ The grin that tugged at her lips was impossible to hide, it only became wider when Reyna noticed it and locked her piercing black eyes on her.

"You'll have 5 minutes to organise them and then you'll have to drink one. Ready! Set! Go!"

It turned out that not all of the poisons were easy to spot. Some were extremely easy, she could tell from just looking at the texture of the liquid. Some were a bit harder and required her to smell the goblets first or dip her fingertip and taste just a bit, but in the end her skills were enough to discern all but two goblets. One was filled with wine and the other what looked like water. She had already deemed before that the one with wine could contain any poison since the distinct taste of the wine would cancel out the poison's. The water could be filled with many different substances that she was furiously trying to list in her head.

"30 seconds!" the fat man called out. Looking over at Reyna and Clarisse she saw them placing the last two goblets down, but she grinned when she saw that the order of the poisons was completely wrong and that they'd soon discover it.

"10 seconds!" Now she hurried through the lists of poisons in her head. Which one was the most potent? The wine or the water?

"Five! Four! Three!-" She placed the water at the most potent place and the wine in the least potent. "-Two! One! Stop what you're doing"

Annabeth backed off as the fat judge moved towards Clarisse's table. He examined the goblets before holding up the one she deemed the least poisonous. She hesitantly held it towards her mouth before emptying it all in one go. The entire room went silent as they observed her. She seemed unharmed until she doubled over and emptied the contents of her stomach on the carpet. With a look of disgust the judge moved on to the next.

It took a while for all the champions to try their goblets. Annabeth was second to last in the line and Reyna was to drink just before her. When Reyna was told to drink her she confidently drank it in less than five seconds. She tried to plant on a strong face but failed as she, just as Clarisse, doubled forward and vomited.

The judge moved on to Annabeth. "Drink," he said, holding up the goblet of ordinary-looking wine. She decided that it was best not to contemplate what would happen if she was wrong and the water was the most potent poison. Drinking the wine she thought that she felt a slight metallic taste on her tongue. After emptying the bottle she straightened up and waited. Considering the second most poisonous one would kill within 3 minutes she thought that after 1 she would start to feel strange. Nothing happened. The judge moved on.

The last person to drink their selected the water. He was a tall, dark-skinned boy called Beckendorf. He drank it in silence and stopped. He was clutching his stomach as the judge went back to his place on the podium.

"Congratulations to Annabeth for arranging them perfectly! Second place was Leo, third was Clarisse and fourth was Reyna. Everyone else failed their attempts or weren't good enough-" he paused looking at Beckendorf. It was an eerie silence. "-you will be sent away. Now only our four finalists remain. The finals will be held the week before Yule and it will be man-on-man combat."

With that they were shooed off back to their own chambers, leaving the failing champions behind. As she exited the room she threw a quick glance towards Beckendorf, he was pale. Extremely pale, at the edges of his mouth white liquid started to gather and his eyes were bloodshot red. The last thing she saw before the doors closed behind her was Charles Beckendorf collapsing on the floor, his body convulsing. . .

* * *

 _Perseus_

Percy awaited the results from the trial together with the other royals. He had placed a lot of money on Luke's champion and he was eager to win it back. The others seemed to all have placed their bets too, even quiet Calypso. She had never been the open type, she was like her kingdom; small, beautiful, calm and isolated. Also like her kingdom, Percy owned a part of her. Well kind of. They had been betrothed since a couple of years back when her father, king Atlas, came to Atlantis for a meeting with his old friend king Poseidon, Percy's father. At the palace Percy and Calypso had met each other, they fell for one another instantly and many passionate kisses were exchanged. After being spotted during one of their heated session the two kings only saw it fit to betroth them, so that they could have an excuse if they were to be found again.

So far they were the only confirmed betrothed of the royals. Prince Nico had been said to have been promised to Percy's sister Andromeda, it wasn't confirmed in any way but the speculations were there. Jason had always said that he was going to quote: "Wed n' Bed" Piper although that seemed to have met resistance from Piper's side, mainly her and her father arguing against it. Princess Rachel was looking towards Luke, and although he wasn't royal he was still rich and powerful enough for her father's liking so he would probably accept it if Luke were to ask for her hand. He wouldn't though. Ever since she'd first entered his life in the mines she had been Luke's true gem. He was constantly trying to win her affection even if they'd never marry. He was always looking for Annabeth and thus he had no idea that other girls liked him.

Percy also thought about Annabeth often but for a completely different reason. He needed to apologise to her for his behaviour when she vomited on his shoes. He actually couldn't believe what he'd done to her just because he felt like it at the time, and because of a pair of boots.

"Percy? Hello, Rome to Percy!" Calypso's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Thalia was asking whether Andromeda would join us soon or not."

Percy looked at his fiancée, he saw the look in her eyes. She of course knew that Andromeda would never leave Atlantis, she was far too unstable for it. Andromeda had been born with a healthy baby, a little small but otherwise perfect. Yet, as it turned out, she had been born with something else that made her different from any other child. Percy actually didn't know what exactly was wrong with her but one day she had had a breakdown and from that day onward she had barely had any contact with anyone else. Doctors were coming from everywhere trying to figure out what was wrong with her and to find a cure but no one succeeded. After a couple of years Percy's parents were starting to lose hope but as they were about give up on their daughter a new solution presented itself. A lady appeared one day at the court, apparently she was an old friend of Percy's mother and she was allowed to look over the princess' condition. After a month Andromeda could start to come out of her room for an hour a day, not enough for Percy's liking but it was far better than nothing. Not many people actually knew that Andromeda still was unstable, the royal family had sent out a word that she was healthy again as soon as the lady arrived. Percy had no idea why.

"She won't be coming, Thals," he said.

Apparently Jason decided that this was his time to talk and said, "You sure she's alright. I mean, the last doctor was extremely shady. I had my spies look her up but it seems that no one of them could find anything. Like she didn't exist. Maybe she's a northerner, I heard they had all sorts of unholy medicine up there, and of course they have their freaks that know their way around _magic_." The very word sent a chill down Percy's spine and he saw the other people gathered in the room take in a deep breath.

Magic had been banned in the kingdoms since king Zeus, Jason's father had gathered the other monarchs and declared that it was outlawed, and punishable by death. It was a part of his war against the northerners, probably in hopes of destabilizing them. But as everyone knew he lost the fight against them, and he lost it good. Small parts of his army was the only thing that returned, and many of them were marred and disfigured beyond reason. The winter was harsh and unyielding. Charging someone of knowing magic was serious, if the king wanted to he could at any point seize the person in question and send them to their penalty without a trial. Most of the people who were charged with the crime were sent to the mines in Olympus and Percy only knew one person who survived that, Annabeth.

"You sure you're not just pointing fingers just so your father can have another war against the North right?" Percy asked. It was a fair question. Jason's father had been going paranoid since he lost the first war and he had been trying to rally the other kings for another. Many of the nobles had been fighting for it but an assassin had emerged and he had murdered almost all of the supporters quickly, including Luke's parents. After that the king of Olympus had found him and sent him to the mines, or so it was said. The talk about starting a new war had recently fueled up again since Zeus seemed to have made an estimate over how many resources were in the North, a lot Percy had heard.

"You all have to remain silent," Jason said. "What I'm about to tell you is extremely secret: the plan of attack is already made and we're just waiting for the right moment, during Yule, when we'll march across the strait and invade. You all have to swear on the gods that you never tell anyone outside this room! If you do not I swear to them that I'll kill you."

 _ **-0oOo0oOo0oOo0oOo0oOo0-**_

 _Cold_

 _The cold was sweeping through the shadows of the room. He heard everyone swear their vows. A plan of attack was the most foolish thing Zeus could do, and soon they would meet on the battlefield. Enemies once again. Zeus would do well though to check who he brought with him, not all of Zeus' believed allies would fight with him when they found out who he was up against._

 _Soon the time has come, he thought. Zeus plan was never as simple as it sounded, and the young prince probably only understood a small part of it. He won't have to though. But his friends will need to understand the parts that they will play. So far fate was assembling its unknowing troops and the havoc would be unleashed on the world._

 _But Winter was always ready. Summer was mobilised and Autumn was upon the age of man. Soon the war for olympus would start. The pieces were all set, the players only needed to collect them. . ._

 **A/N: Sorry that this is a short chapter, I've been busy with school and haven't gotten a lot of time to write. I wanted to get this out before next week and if all goes well I might get another chapter up by christmas. The plot will get going very soon, most of the pieces are already in place and everything will soon come crashing down upon our heroes. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **/mOsbricka**


	7. Requiem of Faith

**Sorry for the short chapter and the time it took to make it. I try to think through everything I write to the last letter so it takes a lot of time for me to plan an entire chapter. For this one I recommend playing some form of emotional music whilst reading the last part since that's what made me want to write it in such a way. I reccommend the scores by Audiomachine, he/she has many good emotional tracks.**

* * *

Winter struck the kingdoms with brutal strength. No one remained unaffected by it. Crops were covered underneath several feet of snow, houses were completely blocked and it was nigh impossible to travel the roads outside of the capitals. Scholars from all over tried to come up with a possible explanation for the unusual phenomenon, maybe they didn't pray enough to the gods or someone offended them in some way. Across the continent people hurdled in temples, gathering warmth and praying for mercy. The snow blocked all outside communication for everyone, whether you were rich or poor, the lord or the peasant.

Still some people continued their everyday life like nothing happened, one such person was Annabeth. Being used to winters almost she didn't need to bat an eye at the wonderland outside, yet she did. She loved snow. She loved the way it made the world beautiful and calm, the way it absorbed sound. She loved the shade of blue that the winter gave to the air when the snow settled. Warming up for the final part of the competition she had started to increase the intensity of her training. She was now far better than Chiron, although he sometimes managed to find and utilise faults in her technique. She had almost gotten used to dresses, but then the winter came and she asked Chariclo to order in comfortable and warm clothes instead. Her fashion choice had turned out to become quite popular in the palace as the queen had been seen in something similar. Not been seen as much as always walked around in it. With her new comfortable clothes Annabeth had started to take treks outside, marvelling at the way the snow framed nature. She helped clear many roads inside the city to help rebuild her muscles and to blow off steam after her intense training sessions.

Annabeth had barely any time left after the training to do anything, but during the small pockets she had started to pick up on her piano again. Her mentor had always thought music was the height of human achievement and so he had forced her to learn to play the piano, violin and harpsichord. She had never liked it much but she didn't complain, it was nice having your mind off murdering. She had never gotten as good at it as she had hoped, unlike everything else it didn't come naturally to her. Normally she would've practiced until she was the best at it, as she did with everything, but she found it too boring and stale to just sit in a chair and strum chords or press keys. Much to her mentor's disappointment she stopped practicing all of the instruments he had been so keen to teach her. She wasn't sure if him sending her away was a direct result of her defying his orders and stopping with the music, he never tended to be so emotional and it did seem quite childish of him to do so. After she had stopped with music her mentor decided to send her away. She was told to do some quick assassinations down in the kingdoms, when he told her who she was killing her emotions got the best of her and she travelled there. There she hadn't been able to practice since she couldn't find the money to purchase the instruments she needed.

Now she was sitting in front of the grand piano, tentatively hitting the keys, hoping that everything came back to her. It didn't. The tiny dots on the paper didn't tell her anything, not like letters would.

"Is it difficult to find the keys?" a small voice asked behind her. "I know how it felt when I started practicing again, it was impossible. But as it continued my teacher showed me how to do it once again."

Annabeth turned, the woman was definitely a royal, the way she held her head up high and the way she spoke told Annabeth all she needed to know about that. She wasn't wearing anything like the dresses that other royals had but instead had a modest, white dress that looked like it was made for comfort more than to show off. Annabeth was instantly jealous of how the girl's hair looked, the natural way it fell over her shoulder. Annabeth's hair was always messy, many times she wanted to cut it off but her mentor had forced her to wear it in a braid instead. He had said something about it being difficult to hide if you were a woman with short hair. He probably had a point. The girl's hair also had a natural colour to it, being caramel it was easier to look modest and more like a normal person than it was for Annabeth since her blonde colours were rather rare in the kingdoms. Still there were people who would have a harder time, in the North certain people were born with almost, or completely white hair. These people were said to be descendants of the mythological Soldier. The Soldier was a legendary hero who united the North against an invader, he then proclaimed himself king. He founded a dynasty that managed to remain in power for a hundred years before the spacing of everything in the North made it impossible to keep the kingdom intact. The villages were too far apart and too self-reliant to depend on anyone for a longer period of time. The Soldier had been born in one of the southern villages, when he was young a seer proclaimed that he was destined to defeat an evil being looking to conquer the North. As he grew up he started to show the skills of an excellent warrior, defeating all foes that faced him. When he was the age of thirty an army tried to invade. The Soldier, knowing that the strength of the North wouldn't be enough, travelled to the 'land-beyond-men', where it was too extreme for anything to live. In the cold he found something, it gave him the power necessary to lead the troops of the North. The legends said that he was born with black hair, but as he travelled north it grew whiter. When he returned from the 'land-beyond-men' it was completely white.

"Here, let me show you how to do this piece," the girl said. She plopped down next to Annabeth on the piano stool. She cracked her knuckles in a very unladylike manor and then put her fingers to the keys. Annabeth saw the way her focus shifted from her manor and her look to fully analysing the notes in front of her.

She started to play but Annabeth knew that the girl wasn't very experienced with the instrument because it didn't sound completely correct. It was an excellent piece of music, you would have to be stupid not to know that, and the royalty could play it. It just didn't sound right.

"Practicing by yourself, lady Calypso?" a voice said behind them. The girl, who Annabeth now recognised as the crown princess of Ogygia, turned with a smile.

"Yes. Annabeth here had problems with her playing so I felt like showing her how to play." The man who had appeared in the room was incredibly handsome, with his brown hair and calm blue eyes, the exact shade that the person who had beaten her up when she was to slit the throat of the princess had had. She didn't know how to react, her brain was in a 'survival'-mode, trying to figure out the best way to come out of the situation. She decided that sticking with the princess was the best idea since the man didn't have any clear reason to hurt or frighten the girl.

"Where you now?" he asked absently. He studied her face for a couple of seconds, his gaze lingering a bit too long on her eyes. There was something oddly familiar with the way he did it, like she had seen it many times more than the one time she met the man in the corridor.

"I would've thought that the person who taught you would teach better. Considering your fighting as excellent as it is he seems like a man who knows how to teach. Keep on practicing, that is my best advice. If you are motivated enough you can do anything. I've heard about a cult of some sort that exists mostly in the North, never here for obvious reasons, that are said to be so devoted to their god that it gives them special abilities. Sorry, I got sidetracked. My point is that the only way to success is to practice and practice and practice."

With a smile and a gesture for them to leave he said, "Try not to get into trouble." Not entirely sure why she wasn't allowed in the room Annabeth walked out. She turned to see him closing the door behind them, the last glimpse was him staring at her as the large wooden piece slid shut. She felt a need to satisfy her curiousness so she stayed close to the door.

* * *

After an hour of waiting outside she grew impatient and walked inside. What she saw surprised her. Despite her guarding the only exit, the only other being the drop of 40 metres outside the windows, there was no one in the room. The last thing the man said came to mind, _Try not to get into any trouble_. With that came a feeling of being cold. Not something she was used to. She tried looking all across the room, not being able to find anything that gave any sort of clue as to where he might be. She felt as if something was sneaking up on her and breathing down her neck, panic like never before. _How did he get out?_

* * *

At dusk she returned to her room, angry and wary of the man. She had searched the entire room for anything that would help him get out but couldn't find anything. She got into bed still thinking of possible ways to escape from a room with only one exit that was guarded. Slowly she drifted off to sleep.

…

…

…

…

 _She was in a city. No, the City. The capital of the Empire. She saw the towers, the streets of gold. The Empire was the greatest nation ever to exist, the City was the metropol that spanned an entire continent. In the middle of the City there was the Royal Palace. Made of gold and ivory. In it was the royal family, a family with no power. The districts of the empire ruled through voting. They sent their representatives to the Council who ruled all matters of the Empire._

 _There was magic in the air, she could feel the cold sensation of it when she breathed. When she looked at the millions of people who walked the streets she felt herself filling with awe, these people had created something worth remembering, something that would forever mark the soil underneath it. Something that would last for eternity, not even the_ _ **Dark Forces**_ _could destroy it since the City was too absolute for any type of civilization to survive without it. Still there were some tribes up north and down south that resisted, but they would soon join when they felt the overwhelming power of the Imperial Army._

 _The centre of the City, its crown jewel, was the Temple of the Hidden. In it the_ _ **Order of Light**_ _resided. The_ _ **Order**_ _were the peacekeepers of the realm, protecting against the_ _ **Dark Forces**_ _through prayer and battle. They used magic to bend the world around them to their will. They were the most powerful warriors in existence, like the Council the_ _ **Order**_ _was controlled by a council of the elder, and more powerful of the members. This council was called the Conclave. The Conclave were the leaders of the Council when there wasn't a speaker, all in order to keep peace. Their counterpart was the_ _ **Dark Forces**_ _, the_ _ **Forces**_ _controlled the regions not controlled by the Empire. They fought with rage and malice instead of hope. The Temple of the Hidden was cut from a single piece of diamond-rock. It was the perfect symbol of the Empire; perfected, powerful, organised and expensive._

 _As she watched she saw the City grow, stretching out across the continent, more people settling. The population grew by thousands each day. She saw the celebrations of the Hidden in Its temple. Then she saw darkness. It started spreading, it quickly consumed the Council. Soon the wars weren't righteous, the_ _ **Order**_ _refused to lead the troops into battle, and she saw the Council's reaction. It was beautiful the way a predator spider is beautiful. Quick. Effective. Lethal._

 ** _(A/N: If you want to you can play some form of emotional music from this part all the way to the end. Just google emotional music and you'll find a bunch of stuff. I recommend Audiomachine's 'When It All Falls Down')_**

 _By order of the King the Imperial troops turned on their generals. They marched into the temple of the Hidden. The King held powers far beyond what the_ _ **Order**_ _had expected. The work was almost too easy. After three days the temple was no more, not even a pile of rubble. The screams of dying members of the_ _ **Order**_ _had been heard across the entire city. The remaining members, mostly the higher ranking ones, the ones known as the Knights, gathered in one of the Empire's abandoned fortresses. They sent out word of the attack and made sure the surviving members all knew what happened. The order was to cut all ties with the Empire quickly. Then they waited, sharpening their swords. Swords that already cut through steel like it was butter. The more powerful the knight the more powerful the blade._

 _In the final days of the_ _ **Order**_ _the Empire attacked the fortress. The leaders of the_ _ **Order**_ _knew they would not survive by defending and commanded their troops into a suicide mission. The battle raged for weeks, both sides seemed equal. The Knights were dangerous because of their superior weaponry and unorthodox fighting that the Imperial army could counter by skills. But they countered with numbers. Magic takes power to wield as a weapon and the knight's remaining energy faded quickly, each blow weaker and weaker. The centre of the raging war was two lone combatants who fought on a hill. High enough up for everyone to see. They were the King of the Empire and the Grand Master of the_ _ **Order**_ _. It was clear that they were no ordinary fighters. Nature roared as they fought with might that no one could expect from a mortal being. They the entire time the war lasted, even when he was the last of his kind left the Grand Master fought. He fought with might that the_ _ **Dark Forces**_ _could never muster._

 _The King used his rage to continue fighting, drawing power from an unknown source. He managed to strike the Grand Master, pushing his sword through the latter's body. Still the Grand Master prevailed, reaching out for his magic and using the last to shatter the power the King had. She saw it happen. The Grand master being impaled and then something shatter inside the King, four glowing shards dropped to the ground around him. The Master was quick to take them, before disappearing. Seeing the Grand Master of the most powerful warriors flee, the king let out a laugh that scarred the very core of her being. A laugh of pure evil._

 _With all his opposers gone, just as his strange powers, the King began to rule his new kingdom. The Empire soon fell into chaos. Some small surviving parts of the_ _ **Order**_ _overthrew the king before disbanding the entire City. The world forgot about the_ _ **Order**_ _, the empire, and the_ _ **Dark Forces**_ _who were now free to conquer the lands._

 _She saw a powerful new nation arise in the east, before seven smaller ones arose destroying it._

 _Then her vision faded, she once again saw the Grand Master of the_ _ **Order of Light**_ _, this time he was standing across three people. One was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, one was the wisest old man, one was the strongest of slaves. Together they were two men and two women. Now the only ones protecting from the_ _ **Dark Forces**_ _, the only ones knowing about them. She saw the Master give the others the shards he picked up from the King, then leaning in and whispering, "He's after them."_

 _The four disbanded and went their own ways. She followed the Grand Master's journey north. His settlement of the land in the north. Then she saw the growth of new villages in the northern lands. She saw the way the ideas of the Grand Master turned into life with the new villages collected wielders of magic and taught them to use it, to lead their people with it._

* * *

Reyna woke up soaked in sweat. The last image of the dream was etched in her mind. It was the image of a lone grave, far north. A stone slab marking the final resting-place of the greatest warrior. She knew that it had ties with the Grand Master she had seen in her dream, his face was on it. In fact the slab was a depiction of his body, complete with a sword lying at his side…

…

…

Yet his face seemed eerily familiar, like she had seen it before. Or more exactly, quite recently. The grave was at a beautiful location, a small island in the middle of what she could only describe as a fjord. The image made Piper want to cry- the island, the fjord, the wind, the sea, the Grand Master's fate, the words etched into the stone underneath the Grand Master's feet: _All is not what it seems/To understand you must experience/Do or do not/The Hidden protect you._ The most dramatic thing in the image was the wanderer who started at the grave. His clothes were vaguely similar to the ones the Grand Master's grave portrayed, at his side hung a sword similar to that of the Grand Master. His robes were blowing with the wind and he was bowing his head towards the grave…

…

…

Then another image popped up. The face of the King which had previously been hidden in shadows, he remembered it. The horrifying feeling of the King laughing as the Grand Master fled their last duel suddenly became the most terrifying thing that Percy had ever experienced. Because he recognised…

…

…

Because Luke knew…

…

…

Because Annabeth was seeing a perfect mirror of king Zeus of Olympia's face...


	8. Man Behind the Mask- Part 1

_The temple was quiet, the Priest was all alone. He had the face and body of a withered old man, scarred by battle and time. On his hand gleamed a mark of ancient knowledge. It signified the uncontrollable magic in the world. His robes were worn and he carried nothing other than his sword with him; the sword that had been used thousand times past and would be used many times more._

 _The garden was quiet. Far up north, cut off from the remainder of the world by many layers of ocean and magic and ice and stone, yet it wasn't cold. The climate was like he was used to, humid and well tempered. The trees were blossoming; a wind swept through, pink petals rained down. Tiny birds chirped in their nests, not anticipating what was to come._

 _The Priest walked to the altair, the former table of wisdom and knowledge; now, a forgotten heretic symbol. Something was waiting at the altair; someone was waiting on the altair. When the priest reached the figure he recognised it instantly, as all gifted did. He was the chosen of the God, he was the strongest of the blessed so he had survived._

 _When it spoke it spoke in a secret language, one that no ordinary man could learn or talk as it was too sacred and powerful._

" _We meet again, old friend. You have been gone too long, I started losing faith in your devotion to me, it is as if you wanted to get away from this world," it said with a smile._

 _The old man sighed and said,"You knew where I were the entire time, and don't go mocking me. I know you've been looking for my replacement, the last one was strong, I give you that, but–"_

" _More than strong wouldn't you say?" The being interrupted,"You went toe-to-toe. Formidable opponents. The others loved your fight. But as you rather know I won in the long run, as I always do. Your former master has gone, faded from the world, that ancient statue didn't deserve your respect and prayers."_

 _The old man was careful not to say anything too hasty, he had always hated how immortals schemed and plotted against each other, using innocent humans to enact their wars and conflicts. "I care not for your fights in the heavens, only for their effects on the world."_

" _Yesss," the immortal being hissed, "That is why you let me win, you understood it was the only way. The younger generation always wins in the long run. That's what my enemy didn't see, he couldn't grant you powers like I could, he was stuck with the old method of praying for favours, that's why you couldn't win in the end; after some time you would run out of people who had prayed for long enough time to be good warriors."_

 _As the words were spoken both of the two figures reacted to a third presence in the garden, this one was unlike the birds and the animals and the trees around them; it was far more powerful._

" _Can it be?–Probably not," the deity said, "If my rival hasn't reacted to us being here in his temple, on his altair, all this time he must be gone. It is probably someone who's looking for you instead," it said with a grin._

 _Then a young man walked into the grove. He was engulfed in shadows, nothing but his eyes were visible, two pits of calm and danger at the same time. Chasm of secrets the old man would call them, they were the essence of the ocean in physical shape. In his hand there was a sword not too unlike the one of the old man. The only thing about it was it's colour and shape; like it had been carved out of ice, like it was made from pure cold. It absorbed all of the warmth around the clearing the second it was drawn._

 _The immortal waved his arm and some of the shadows around the man disappeared. His face was visible, or what should've been his face. It was covered with a mask that sent chills to the bone of the old man. It looked like a skull, but more metallic and grimm. It was grinning right at them with two blue eyes and a blade of ice._

 _The god spoke, not necessarily directed at anyone, "Can it be? That the old one has returned."_

 _The man, since it must've been a man, said with a voice that sounded older than the world itself, "We're collecting them" It was coarse and the Priest guessed it wasn't the man's normal voice, but rather distorted by the mask. The figure was walking slowly at the two men._

 _The old man knew instantly what_ _ **it**_ _meant. It meant the shard of the King's power that he had. He looked at the god next to him to observe what was going to happen, but the male shape didn't show any emotion. The old man decided to draw his sword, the diamond in the crossguard glowed with energy. At the sight of it the young man instantly locked onto it with his eyes. He had found what he came for. The priest stared into his eyes, trying to anticipate the next move, nothing happened. Then the dark settled._

 _At a heartbeat the world was cast into darkness unlike the Priest had ever seen before. The only light source was the god and the stone in his sword. He tried to guide the light at the place where the young man had been but no one was there. He heard the wind sweeping around him. Something was blocking his senses, pushing them down and forcing him to rely upon his sight. That's why he could react quick enough when the man suddenly was an inch in front of him. One split-second he was there and the other he was gone, just the image of the grinning skull-mask staring at him. He was knocked to his feet by something extremely heavy, he couldn't move. In the light of the immortal being next to him he saw something horrifying, the glow of the deity was fading rapidly, like it was bleeding out. And it was, the immortal's shape was flickering. Instead of his chest there was a gaping hole. Golden ichor was flowing, the immortal burned out in a second with only the word "Impossible" escaping from his lips. The god fainted before the eyes of his priest._

 _The Priest was lifted into the air as the man grabbed his throat. He knew this would be his end, his long life would finally finish in the grandest of ways. Throat slit by an assassin and body then thrown off a cliff into the raging sea. He tried to discern any facial expression in the man's face but couldn't; the mask was perfect at it's job. No emotion was facing the once greatest warrior of the worlds._

" _To understand you must experience, do or do not. And death is also an experience, is it not?" the old man whispered with limited breath. "From your mask I determine you're quite experienced on the matter. Who are you?" It was impossible to discern any reaction in the eyes of his enemy. The Priest clawed at the grip around his throat and kicked, trying to get his weapon or something. Nothing happened and the fingers only pushed firmer._

" _Who are you?!" The loudness of it surprised the old man himself as the shout echoed across the empty temple. He felt the wind starting to blow, waving the cloaks of his antagonist dramatically. "What are you? How can you do what you can do? The old magic disappeared with the Olden Empire during the Golden Age"_

" _You know who I serve, one who's very dissatisfied with your service. As for who I am, that is a long story you might call me_

" _Not all is what it seems, but death. It's the same whether you want to or not, whether you deserve it or not" the man said with his rough voice. A second, then sharp pain shot through the Priest's throat. He started coughing blood, he tried to say something, anything; but only a red spray came out. As his vision darkened the priest heard one last thing from his defeater who leaned in and whispered the last part of his saying, "yet the Hidden be with you." Then he opened his palm, and the Priest saw the raging sea underneath approaching fast before the one he betrayed long ago showed himself and enfulged falling body._

* * *

Two days. Two days she had had strange dreams and she was sure they weren't a coincidence. In the past she had been able to foresee some events or get insight to a person's backstory, but this seemed eerily more important. An evil king who somehow had an ancestor who looked exactly like himself, they even sounded the same way when they talked, same old style. Piper had heard it many times before and would continue to hear it. She wondered if someone else knew about the dreams, but that would be impossible as dreams were personal.

A knock on the door, she asked the person to come in. It was Luke. He said, "We need to talk"

"About what?" she asked.

"About things that have happened. Make yourself ready, we're going to Percy's room." Piper felt like asking why Percy's room was so important and why they couldn't talk alone in her.

Still she forced herself into the dress and made her way to Percy's room. Somehow the least glamorous of all the chambers in the entire palace and the farthest away from everything in the entire building. When she got there she heard loud voices from inside, so she decided to step inside to make sure no conflict emerged. It turned out not to be such a good idea.

Inside the room Percy was standing stark naked, fortunately turned away from her; he was talking with Luke. Or more screaming at Luke, "What the…Luke? Why? At least knock before you enter!"

Luke was grinning at his flustered red face and the harsh words that poured from his mouth. She saw Calypso desperately trying to cover herself with the sheets, clutching them to her breast so that Luke wouldn't see anything.

She had no idea how long she stood there before they noticed her, she only knew that Percy decided to turn around… The scream leaving Percy's mouth was anything but manly, "Ahhh, there's another one!" followed by him grabbing hold of the curtains and hiding behind them. He was fast, but she still managed to see quite a few inches of skin…

After another ten minutes of Piper dragging Luke to the lounge and calming him down both Percy and Calypso entered the room. Them entering together made the situation unbearable for Luke who was on the floor convulsing with laughter at their unfortunate situation. He said something about Percy's face and a door opening which must've been difficult for the other people gathered in the room to understand since they hadn't seen anything.

Luke managed to calm down enough to say, "Thankfully everyone's gathered here now," followed by Percy muttering something that sounded like "Why here?"

Luke pretended not to notice, "I've gathered you here to talk about a strange dream I've had, or multiple to be honest. They're like prophecies or visions of the past if you know what I'm talking about."

Piper was surprised that this was the topic of him gathering them, and even more surprised to learn that there were more than herself and Luke who'd gotten the dreams. Looking around the room she saw Percy and Calypso, who still had a blush; Rachel, who's hair was everywhere; Thalia; Chiron and, surprisingly, Annabeth. _Why was she there?_

The others seemed to be just as uneasy around Annabeth as she was, only Chiron wasn't as he was lightly chatting away with her in a strange language. It was strange hearing them; their language wasn't the same as the tongues that Piper had learned to speak- it seemed to have a different base than the common tongue or the ancient tongue. It sounded more like singing than actual talking. As always with other people she wondered what they talked about. Did they laugh about her? Her father? Her kingdom? Chiron was sure to know some insider information from all the years he worked with kings and other royals, he could tell Annabeth many details that they didn't want her to know.

"If you wonder why they're here," Luke gestured toward Annabeth and Chiron, "it's because they come from a culture that regards prophetic dreams and dreams in general very highly. Chiron, could you please tell us what these dreams mean."

Chiron was about to answer when, to everyone's surprise, someone else decided to do it for him, "The Northerners regard dreams highly as a person who's sleeping is more closely connected to the Hidden, thus to the magic of the world. Certain gifted people are able to experience dreams like the ones you have consistently, they often receive special schooling to be able to interpret their dreams. Interpreters predict everything from the winter to the battles to come; one of many reasons why you didn't win the war. Dreams regarding death or war are considered to be omens of dark times ahead, often death of a relative or close one. Around these dreams you should be extremely careful, make sure you pray enough and don't try to change what is said, it usually does no good."

The person speaking was no other than Piper's swordplay instructor, Theseus. Surprisingly she wasn't the first one to react to this: Calypso got up and bowed. Theseus acknowledged this with a nod.

"I'm curious as to how you reached that conclusion in your studies of our culture," Chiron said; Piper realised now that her instructor's accent was the same melodical one as Chiron and Annabeth had. It was undoubtedly the reason as to why he knew about the dreams.

As an answer to this her instructor said something in the same language as the two northerners had spoken before. Chiron hissed something in response, Annabeth seemed to be gripping for something behind her- both obviously startled by what the man had said. They engaged in a discussion in which two clear factions appeared; Theseus was going calmly against the older man. The younger man's face betrayed no emotion as their heated argument continued.

"Everyone out!" Chiron warned, his voice was distant. He moved his hand towards his sword, pulling it halfway out of the sheath.

Theseus retorted, "Why leave now; we just got started…" As he said that Chiron sprung into action, launching forwards and swinging in a careful arc to decapitate his enemy. he was swift, Piper barely saw the blade moving before it hit the wall, Chiron had missed what would be impossible to miss. The guy was too fast to catch.

She turned her attention to following Chiron's advice of running, but something was wrong with the door. It was wedged. Ramming her bodyweight at it didn't even budge the door (of course she wasn't very heavy). Percy and Luke were looking around frantically looking for any sort of weapon to use against Theseus. Percy settled on a stool and Luke on a curtain-holder. _Three against one Theseus would surely be outmatched_ , Piper thought. Once again she was wrong. He managed to produce a thin blade from his robes and wielded it excellently in defence only. Even when outnumbered he was besting them, three well experienced swordsmen- one of them considered to be one of the best.

"Is this all you can give me? I would expect more from the best of the kingdoms, you really do consider your methods the highest," Theseus mocked as he parried Luke's wide swing with the iron bar. His style was unorthodox, it was like him anticipating every move his opponents made and reacting accordingly.

It took a solid five minutes of him avoiding their attacks without anything happened. Then he went offensive, quickly destroying Luke's guard with a swift strike with his thin blade. The surprised royal stumbled back and fell over a couch. Percy saw his chance to improve their odds the moment the strike landed and moved himself to the opposite side of Theseus. Now he and Chiron were opposite each other with their opponent in the middle. Theseus didn't seem fazed by the change of position at all, instead he parried consecutive swings in a move that must've been the deadliest dance of all time. Surgically performed he parried Percy's chair behind his back then spun and smacked Chiron's blade out of the way and into the chair. Splinters flew everywhere but he turned his face away from it. Another blade was unsheathed, by Annabeth; jumping at Theseus in a lunge she looked almost as gracious as the man himself. But just as her two comrades she couldn't turn the tide. Instead her blade was deflected straight into Chiron's hand, forcing the latter's weapon out of his hand and into the air. A powerful kick sent the old warrior to the ground. His weapon was caught in mid air by Percy who just seemed to realise that he was at a severe disadvantage, they were both getting toyed with.

Fighting against two opponents who were armed with blades wasn't an apparent problem for Theseus, even though Annabeth's style was similar to his own he still bested her and Percy. Piper drew the conclusion that two of the fighters were holding back something big: Theseus was obviously hiding his full potential and playing with his opponents; but Annabeth was less obviously trying not to do something that Piper couldn't quite put her finger on. She seemed to be arguing with herself over some strange thing that didn't belong in a swordfight.

"Do it," Chiron whispered, "They won't hurt you when you've saved them, they're not that bad people." This saying was directed at Annabeth, a suspicion started to grow in Piper's head- people of the North were said to gain magical abilities from their worship of demons of nature, powers that weren't allowed in the kingdoms. Could Annabeth be..?

Then many things happened fast. Annabeth's eyes glowed with a strange purple light for a split second, then something that looked like wings burst out of her back before the room exploded in light. Piper barely had enough time to look away. She just had time to see Theseus disappear into thin air. When she looked up again she saw Annabeth facing Theseus, without her top on. From her navel up she was naked, her body was curvaceous and beautiful, a body that even Piper's mother would be jealous of. Below her waist her dress was singed off. Black stains of soot covered the hem of the dress. Besides that she was completely fine, except for glowing marks on her back. They looked like runes or some sort of script.

"The gods have mercy on us, but they're… She's a…" Luke said. Then he looked at Theseus and his jaw dropped. Instead of the handsome young man who had been there before there was a dark-clad warrior who's face was covered with a mask. A strange mask. It was a metallic skull looking at them. Piper shuddered in horror.

"H-how did you survive that?" Annabeth asked, Piper had to agree with her; the entire floor looked like there'd been a huge fire. The floor was smouldering and the cushions on the sofa were blackened. The man didn't respond but lunged forward in a spinning motion, his blade clashing against Annabeth's. The power of the strike echoed with the metallic clang of the blades colliding. The sheer force behind the swing made Annabeth yelp, as her sword scraped against her shoulder. They exchanged a couple more blows, but Annabeth realised that the skill-gap between them was increasing for every second that she didn't win, he could adapt to her every move.

When Annabeth started moving after a second of hesitation Piper started turning away, desperate to get out of the room. She decided to help Thalia and Luke, who was up on his feet again, to open the door. On the other side of the room she saw Chiron taking laboured breaths while he heaved Percy to his feet. A quick glance at Annabeth told her that the man was blocking her every strike and swing with ease. She turned back to the door. It was stuck. She couldn't remember if there'd been a key in it to begin with but if there'd been one Theseus would've taken it when he locked the door.

"Try breaking the lock," she shouted to Thalia who was already reaching for a chair or anything to bash it in with.

"Don't," Chiron said, "That will surely lock us in for good. Try to pick the lock instead. I must help Annabeth." With that he took his sword from Percy and ran across the room to the two combatants. For once Piper liked that the rooms in the palace were so large. This meant that they weren't in the middle of the fight already.

"What even happened here?" Percy asked. "We got some strange dreams, everyone the same, and then we gather here to discuss them. When we gather first two northerners are here even though they shouldn't, then a third turns up from nowhere and the first two attack him. He continuously toys with them even as if though they were mice and he were the cat. It feels like something is missing here; a motif for all of them being here and fighting." Piper saw the logic in his words. Nothing had happened had not Theseus been attacked by Chiron for clouded reasons. The old warrior must've recognised something, some danger in the younger man or acted on some specific reason as he saw the royals in danger.

To make it even weirder Theseus decided to end the conflict. Instead of his continued toying he kicked Annabeth, hard. The crack echoed in the room and Annabeth was on her back, her chest heaving in laboured breaths. She still didn't seem to notice that her entire upper body was naked, and now exposed as she didn't even have her movements to cover herself. Only Chiron was left standing against the man, who moved faster than he should've been able to. One moment he was kicking Annabeth, the other he was already landing a blow at Chiron's side. The old warrior must've parried on instinct as the blade didn't go deep, still deep enough to draw blood but not deep enough to be deadly. He didn't let Chiron recover but instead pressed forward, pushing his sword through the stomach of the older knight.

Everything went silent. No one dared make a sound.

The expression on Chiron's face was that of surprise. Theseus leaned in a whispered something quietly in Chiron's ear. That moment Chiron's face showed recognition and then he broke up into a smile. The victorious warrior pulled his blade free from the elder man's body, no longer supported it crashed to the floor.

Swiftly the victor turned around to everyone's surprise blocked a flurry of strikes. Piper flinched out of her shock and realised that a group of women in silver parkas were flooding into the room. They were shouting in a language that she didn't understand but that she realised was something related to the northern one. They weren't shouting at the man as more to each other. She counted to fifteen of them circling the man, forcing him away from Chiron; and ten who were edging their way to Chiron and Annabeth.

One of the girls who seemed to be the leader shouted one last thing at the man, this made him laugh. Not a kind or warm one, but darker- eerier. Then he held up his left hand, the entire back of it flashed with a pink rune before he was gone, leaving only cold in the room as the women spread out to collect all of the royals.


End file.
